LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

%it — iqtt^'tji^i :f 0,... 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



LELIA LEE, AND OTHER POEMS: 



BY 



Rev. Stokely S. Fisher: 



Author of "Poems," "Fanny Fay, and Other Poems," 
"Prayer-Band Songs," etc. 



SECOND EDITION. ENLARGED AND 
ILLUSTRATED. 



^^Uki 




1)1 



1888. 
CAMHRTBGE. OHIO. 

AMOS .<: «ONS. 



T^ 



n 






« 



copyrighted 
By Stokely S. Fisher. 

1888. 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 



Dedication - 

Publishers' Preface 

Preface - 

Lei.ia Lee 16-145 

lelia lee. 

Canto I— 16 

Canto II - - 59 

Canto III - --- - 107 

miscellaneous poems. 

Lipht in the West - 149 

When Spring-time Comes 151 

Song - --- - 152 

Acrostic - 1.54 

To Wilda 154 

The Bee Has Found the Clover 155 

April Days 1,59 

To Adelee -. - 159 

AVhen Old Friends Meet 161 

To 162 

Her Eyes - 163 

Ada --- 164 

If We Sought for Joy. 166 

Stella -- 167 

A Sister of Charity -. 167 

A Nation's Sin 169 

() Tiet Me Wander^ 173 

Beneath the Willow 174 

Fannv 176 

1 Pledpe Not Love Till Death 177 

A Kiss 178 

Afterglow 179 

A Star Burned Out 180 



IXDEX. 



PAGK, 

Aurora In a Purple Mist 181 

Reitj:ret.— A Medley.-. 183 

Though That Soft Touch .... _ 188 

Longins - 189 

AVe Had But an Hour 190 

Essie's Urave 192 

With liOve We'll Speed 19ti 

Behind the Clouds 197 

Album Verses 198 

Through All the Summer 201 

O Hasten Rosebud 202 

In Days That Are Dead 202 

Edith --- 205 

The Bachelor... 206 

Song ■. 208 

Son g . 209 

To Wilda 211 

Who Asked? ..... 212 

Laura 213 

Oxford's Hills 214 

Dandelions 216 

After the Party.. .... 217 

ToA — -., 218 

Rose-Tree By the River . 220 

To Ruth 221 

Swinging 223 

Upon tlie (ireen 224 

Evangeline — 228 

The Sun's Last Beams 232 

1 Never See a Cabin Home 234 

Wlien the Stars 239 

A Flight ol Birds -. 240 

Aidyl 241 

God's Poems... 244 

It Is Not Spring 245 

Alone ^.. 247 

O Tell Me, Darling 248 

Ode 249 

To 251 

PASTORATE POKMS. 

Cui Bono? 255 

Lines. 257 



INDEX. 



PAGE. 

Confession 258 

Prohibition Cranks -. .- 259 

Rich and Poor 260 

An Evening Song.. 261 

A iSabbath Morning 2(i2 

Lines 2U8 

O I Wovild be Lost in Jesus 265 

The Revival at Tophet-Corner 267 

Hard Times 276 

Building ._. 279 

Help Me Not to Judge 280 

In The Light of the Cross. -. 281 

Forward 282 

The Chariots of God 284 

Death and Life 286 

Home From the Grave 288 

Lines 289 

A Dying Christian 1 290 

Hymn L. M. 292 

The Labor Will be Ended 292 

HymnC. M 294 

My Ambition 297 

Errata. 298 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

The Author -Stokelv S. Fisher 4 

Trysting Bower ]<) 

By Moonlight 28 

Longiuir 41 

Lelia Lee 57 

The AValhonding... 75 

Peter Phipps and Lelia H9 

The Cottage II5 

Alone 119 

Boating . .. 157 

The Milk Maid 199 

Edith 205 

The Lovers - 229 

Young Hearts 2.37 

The Flower Girl 242 



PUBLISHERS PREFACE 

We have enjoyed even the publishers' labor in 
preparing this work for the book binder. Not onlv 
the elaborate poem, "Lclia Lee," is full of interest 
and pathos, but many of the minor poems are of 
more than ordinary interest. The first edition met 
a rapid sale, and was soon exhausted. This edition 
will, we doubt not, meet with equal favor. It is 
much enlarged and improved. The addition of 
about fifty pages of poems not heretofore published, 
will add to the popularity of the work, and of its 
gifted author. Rev. S. S. Fisher is yet quite a 
young man, and his poems are written, not as the 
literary hireling composes, but between hours of 
study and hard work, as they come to him in his 
busy life. With hope for the success of the work 
and its author, we close our labors. 

Cambridge, Ohio. J. M. Amos & Sons. 



PREFACE. 

The usual apologies of young authors I cannot 
conscientiously make, as no persuasion on the part 
of. friends could cause me to print verses, in my 
own opinion altogether unworthy the attention of 
my readers; neither can I honestly express fears 
that I shall not be ap])reciatcd, at least as much as 
I merit, by a public by which all my poetic ven- 
tures have been so kindly received, and whose 
praise of a former edition of Lelia Lee encouraged 
me to print this little book. 

I am aware that my work is not without many 
defects, due no less to unavoidable haste, than to lack 
of experience. I have had too little time for re- 
vision, in both manuscript and proof sheets, and am 
apprehensive that my pages may be marred by 
many errors that, by care, might have been avoided. 
When my readers are informed that my parish con- 
sists of four congregations, their blame may, at 
least, be mitigated. 



14 PREFACE. 

To be accused of degcribing real persons, if a com- 
pliment, is a very troublesome one. At the risk of 
destroying some very carefully constructed romance, 
ingeniously wrought out by some of my admirers 
with almost sublime officiousness, I think it just to 
declare that no real persons are described in any of 
my poems. I have selected and described typical 
characters much as a botanist selects and describes 
typical flowers. Some of my verses will undoubt- 
edly be found to tit some people, or rather, some 
people will be found who fit my verses, not because 
I described them, but because they belong to the 
class of which I wrote. 

With these few words of explanation, I submit 
my verses to the candor of the public, hoping that 
they may be found worthy a place in the hearts 
of those who give them a home upon their shelf. 

Stokely S. Fisher. 



TO MY 
FATHER AND MOTHER 



THIS LITTLE BOOK IS DEDICATED IN LOV NG 
REMEMBRANCE OF HOME. 



LELIA LEE. 

I. 

Canto I. 

I have come where ardent fancy gives each fluent 

wave a tocgue; 
Here I linger like a bird about its nest despoiled 

of young; 
Here the past and present meet me, casting in the 

wimpling waves 
Horoscopes of mystery: I see a future _ full' ol 

graves. 

O Walhonding, wild and wayward, rufiling on thy 
rugged shore. 

Type of thoughts that overwhelm me, murmur- 
ing voice of days of yore! 

By thy pebbled beach I've wandered with a maid- 
en at my side 

When my heart was filled with music, glad as 
sings thy gleeful tide. 



18 LELIA LEE. 

Many months have passed like hearses since that 
happy, halcyon time, 

But to me the past is present, and I hear, in 
cheerful chime 

Tones afloat from merry minutes that tripped by so 
long ago, 

Glorious in their gorgeous raiment, and with glan- 
cing smiles aglow. 

Place and time and spirit voices bind my spirit Vv'ith 

a s{)ell, 
And the palpitating silence pictures faces I know 

well; 
Strange! I almost pause to listen for her footstep on 

the shore, 
Almost hear the bird-like trilling of her laughter, 

as of yore. 

Through the gates above the world in tearful si- 
lence fades the day. 

And the shadows, stealing nearer, seem like vam- 
pires round their prey: 



LELIA LEE. 



1!» 




TliYSTl^'(Ji BOWKK. 



20 LELIA LEE. 

Lo, a sheeted presence comes to share my loneliness 

with me, 
And before me lies a vision of the bliss I hoped 

might be. 

Lonely, longing for the happy days that nevermore 
may dawn, 

For rapt hours, that all were angels whispering 
love, forever gone, 

I am brought to see the impress of the petty gods 
and vain, 

AVhich the world has made and worships, burn- 
ed into my heart and brain. 

Change has laid its hand upon me, and on all I held 
most dear. 

But a love-born fascination ever draws my foot- 
steps here; 

Oh, the little hands that never now will softly clasp 
my own! 

Oh, the earnest eyes forever from my eager glances 
flown.' 



LELIA LEE. 21 

Oh, those lips whose sweet persuasion now invites 

another's kiss! 
Kiver, River, thy deep waters ne'er entombed a 

woe like this! — 
Wedded to the wild-eyed woman who upon thy 

billowy breast 
Cast her weary form, imploring only liberty and 

rest,* 

Wearing still her name, and telling her sad story 

to the trees, 
Birds and flowers, that, sympathizing, list thy 

mournful melodies, — 
He whose sinews curl and crack when dying in 

the red-man's flame. 
Suffers pangs, compared w^ith passions, which 

are torture but in name. 



»It Is related that a white woman, telng^ closply pursued by savages. 
In order to escape them leaped Iroin a rock overlianu:lng- the Walhond- 
lag, and perished In its waters. Hence this beautiful stream Is called 
"The White Woman liiver." The huge rock from which the white wo- 
naan leaped is still pointed out to the traveler \yy those residing near 
the river, and, seat&l upon this stone, under theshadow ot agreat tree, 
the author composed a part of this canto. The green whisperins leaves, 
the murmuring waves, the flowers and birds, together with the wild, 
sh idowed cliffs, render tliis locality a favorite resort for the youth al 
the adjaceat tarms. 



22 LELIA LEE. 

II. 

Here the weeping willow's branches roof thy spark- 
ling waters o'er, 

And a friendly rock, round-shouldered, lends his 
hand to form a floor; 

Softly kiss his lips moss-bearded, gently lift these 
listless boughs. 

They are friends, and heard her whisper low re- 
plies to my first vows. 

By these legend- haunted waters once we watched 

the spring-time come, 
Heard the timid blue bird warble, watched the 

robin build her home. 
Here, too, in the mild May weather, listlessly we 

strolled to cull 
Frail, bright flowers that filled the forest, like 

her, spirit-beautiful. 

Love upon her cheek was blushing ere the young 

oak leaves were red. 
And the soul of fragrant Flora, mixed with ours, 

turned heart and head. 
Country born, I sought with rapture the rough 

freedom of the farm; 



LELIA LEE. 



23 




BY MOONLIGHT. See page 22. 



24 LELIA LEE. 

Nature held, in every nook, for us, a secret and a 
charm. 

Merry as child-love, we wandered on the shore and 

in the grove. 
Listened to the wood-birds warble, watched the 

downy clouds above; 
AVondered if the birds in loving felt the bliss our 

own hearts knew? 
If the clouds held sleeping seraphs? — surely glory 

glimmered through. 

Sometimes I would wreathe a crown of ferns and 

blowers for my queen; 
Sometimes we would dance together on the cool 

and pleasant green. 
When we thirst'sd, we would drink from leafy cups, 

at bubbling springs; 
Sometimes, too, she sang for me as blithely as 

the free thrush sings: 



LELIA LEE, 25 

SOXG. 

It is Spring, it is Spring, and the flowers 

Have waked by the rocks and streams, — 
The trailing arbutus and blood-root, 

Decentras, in rich racemes; 
The tender leaves of the oak tree 

Are red on the slopes of the hills; 
The cowslip gleams ia the meadow. 

And violets nod by the rills: 
The flowers have come to the woodland, 

The leaves have come to the tree, 
And oh! to add beauty to beauty. 

My lover has come to me. 

The plowman sings from the hillside, 

Light-hearted, and free from care; 
The gay birds, mating and building. 

Are carrolling everywhere; 
The lambkins skip ia the meadow. 

There is joy in the hum of the bees. 
And even the whispering breezes 

Are glad as they play in the trees; 



26 LELIA LEE. 

But oh! my heart is more blithesonie 

Than anything beside, 
For he is with me, my lover. 

Who socvn will manke m* his bride. 

Best of all we liked the river and the grotto 'neatFa 

the tree; 
Trysting Bower we called it then, — ^it was a tryst 

with fate to me I 
Far down in the limpid water we could see the 

minnows play; 
Overhead the rustling leaves were courted by 

the wind all day^ 

She was mistress of the forest, and the robins sh© 

had fed 
Till they knew her as a friend, and perched up 

on her wrist and head; 
All wild creatures were her playmates e'en from 

childhood, for her books 
Oft she brought, for quiet study, to lone dells, by 

purling brooks. 



LELIA LEE. 27 

Gracehil as a fern or fuchsia, still, in years, almost 

a child, 
She was bashful and caressing, playful, yet was 

shy and mild; 
Artless Lelia! my heart rested in its more than love 

for her; 
Artless, yet her smiles, like rainbows, arched the 

golden days that were. 

Often, often here reclining, tossing flowers on thy 

tide 
Talked we of the happy new-year when she was 

to be my bride; 
Fancy touched us with her wand, and day by day 

we built our dream 
Of the time when all the hours should pass like 

roses on a stream, 

Lelia was an only child of Ruth, home-cursed by 

bitter wrong, 
And our love had grown together, self-revealing, 

wondrous strong: 



2S LELIA LEE. 

Neither knew when true affection for the other had 

not been, 
Deeper than all springs of passion^ best of all the 

powers within.. 

Ah! 'twas heaven to be together^ and we trusted 
when apart; 

Even when absent sh€ was present^ ever pre- 
sent in my heart. 

When the air of sweets was fullest and each bower 
of brighest bloom. 

Thoughts of her to me were svfeeter than the- 
bloss&ms or perfuaie. 

Angels seemed to weave together S'll our thoughts^ 
our hearts, our hands; 

Little thought we there were deraoas near, who* 
sought to break the bands. 

Could we dream that we would ever think of lov- 
ing with regret 1 

Teach the lip& ta say Forgotten, though thes 
licaj-t can ne'er forget I 



LELIA LEE. 29 

Not to us spake demon-voices, but to those weak 

hearts Avhere she 
Should have been e«shrined, and cherished long 

ere she was dear to me. 
Did they love her? Is it loving to -cross love and 

crush the heart! — 
'Twas not love, but lust of gold that thronged 

Chaldtea's* human mart,' 

Lelia was a AAviter lily, and her lovely character 
Triumphed o'er the slime and ooze that at t^re 

root environed her; 
Touched by her, the barren dust of life burst into 

living ilower. 
And each feeble hope of good became a purpose 

big with power. 

So, as grow neglected plants, her soul exjianding, 

ever grew, 
Though her father was a drunkard, and her 

mother was a shrew ; 

*In Babylon, women of marriageable age might be sold tot.i»p highest 
Saldcier by their fathers er brothers, wlio were not siow to avail tiiem- 
-selves of this oppertuuity to grow rici^. 



80 LELTA LEE. 

As a sjiintby fiends is tempted, so was Lelia by thorn 

both ; 
Frigbtened by a father's frenz\', t«>rthrcd by a 

mother''s oath. 

Narrow browed and narrow minded, lower feelinor- 

rules alone ; 
Baser nature, blinded bigot^ knows no rights 

except bis own ; 
'Tis a waste of words to reason, law was made 

that he might rule; 
Loose the passions! murder judgment! Answer, if 

you can, the FooL 

Foolish father I foolish motherlf Love is dew, but 

anger, blight ; 
Who would lower to that level where the right 

of Might is rightl 
Reared 'mid bi-awls and bestial h()me-scon('.'> 

Lelia rose through her distress ; 
Peri housed with beasts! whose training could 

not make one virtue less. 



T.ELIA LEli:. 31 

Thus her father, ''Dauglitcr, mark me, love is but 

an idle whim; 
Why do vou not feel for me, since you can feel 

so much for him ? 
I have chosen wisely for you, where your love will 

be of use- 
Jove, if 'tis your whim to love, but see you love 

the one I choose. 

-'Mammon is a mighty god, and few the deeds he 
cannot do ; 

Bjautv has a market value; wisely we have plan- 
ned for you : 

llude may be his voice and manner, small his head 
and heart may be, 

Gold makes him a denii-god, and hides naore 
sins than charity." 

Vultures choose not for the turtles; soul must seek 

its kindred soul ; 
Nor should ever any -other, any spirit choice cou- 

trol. 



32 r.ELIA LEE. 

'Twas my right with her to wander o'er the mead 

and by the wave, 
Aud 'twas not their right to sell her like a harlot 

or a slave. 

But alas ! ere came the Kew-year, c^ime their min- 
ion from the West; 

He who may have been her lover, but eoiild nev- 
er love her best ; 

He who owned that touch-stone only which the 
wealthy dunce may wear, — 

Only gold, whose glitter blinded mother-love and 
father-care. 

Ended then the perfect rapture of our peaceful 
love and trust; 

In our Eden was a serpent, and our lilies lay in 
dust) 

All the dreamy spell was broken; pui-pling in our 
quicken'd veins 

Fire burned, mingling with our blood, and pas- 
sion broke bis rusted chains. 



LELIA LEE. 33 

Love was left, but much — how much! — had gone 
that ne'er could come again : 

Love was left, but, mingling with it, was a know- 
ledge full of pain. 

All the wide world lay before us, and the bars 
were broken down; 

Nothing now in life could be so sweet again, or 
all our own. 

Meeting here beneath the willow, here she told 

their will to me : 
"We must part they say," but, weeping, Lelia said; 

"It must not be!" 
Through the open gates of heaven angels flitted 

out and in, 
"And it will not be," I whispered, "God is good; 

and love will wiu." 



34 LELIA LEE. 



SOXG. 



Soft, soft the litrht that triumphs into day, 
Strong, dear, is love, and it will win its way ; 
See, darling see! tlic doves fly two ''and two 
Their choice is free, why should 1 not choose 
you ? 
Soft, soft the light that triumphs into day, 
Strong, dear, is love, and it will win its way. 

Lift, lift your eyes, all heavy fringed with tears; 
Look, dear, love wins e'en ou the meads and 

meres ; 
Sing, sing my heart! the rock w. ars in the 

stream ; 
Kight will prevail, however it may seem! 
Lift, lift your eyes, all heavy fringed with 

tears ; 
Look, dear, love wins e'en on the meads 
and meres. 



LELIA LEE. 86 

Kneeling here upon this sliaded, mossy rock, we 

clasped our hands, 
And, with eyes and hearts uplifted, prayed that 

Love would bless His bands. 
All the threads were interwoven till we two had 

but one heart ; 
Cursed be the golden wedges forged to rend knit 

souls apart ! 

Kneeling there with brow seraphic, trembling lips 

and heaving breast ; 
Wide blue eyes to heaven uplifted, pink-white 

hands together pressed ; 
Long bright strands of hair brown-golden, floating, 

flowing in the wind ; 
Fragile form so round and graceful, 'neath light 

draperies half defined ; 

Vows that were low-spoken, modest, though impas- 
sioned as my own, 

Tingeing dimpling cheeks with blushes rosy as 
the first faint dawn, — 



36 LELIA I.P:E. 

Oh, she seemed one of the anj2;els I liad seen once, 

in a dream, 
Rapt in worship 'round the throne hard by the 

sparkling, crystal stream. 

Then our lips met, clinging, trembling ; soul was 
whispering to soul : 

Softly singing, sprightly spirits rhythmic through 
my being stole. 

When the heart shakes to the key-note in the rap- 
ture of its chords. 

Love expresses in his kisses more than ever 
warmed his words. 

But around us or within us nothing 's altogether fair; 
Nothing: is so briy-ht with beautv but some little 

blot is there. 
Perfect for the perfect only ! nature is a work well 

done ; 
What we see was made for mortals : spots are 

seen upon the sun. 



LELIA LEE. 37 

On the lip of every rapture is a prophecy of woe ; 
In glad eyes a tear is lurking Avhich a gnat can 

make to flow ; 
Honest love with wily intrigue knows no cunning 

means to cope, 
So I feared that they would change hcr,^ — not in 

love, — hut trust and h(»j)e. 

Coarser natures scorn the feelings that are finer than 

their own ; 
Mock the heart tliat, hcavcn-tenipered, hriaks 

Wiien its l)est liojx' is gone. 
Little loss is sucli a plaything, — love they lightly 

sj)iiiii away, 
Preach (orgt-tfidness and duty till the maxims 

daik{n day. 

Passion's strength will often vanish when its glow 
lias Icl't the chcels ; 

Love had often found her timid, might not slan- 
der tiud her weak '! 



38 LELIA LEE. 

Venomed tongues would touch my honor, lying lips 

denounce ray name; 
Could a heart, so wearied daily, only bear, and be 

the same? 

Priests may join the hands, (and often such a union 

proves a blight,) 

While true love, when it is mutual, only can the 
hearts unite. 

Well I knew our hearts were wedded, — would her 
hand be mine? or his ? 

Joy had fled, for doubt had entered; dread usurp- 
ed the throne of bliss. 

O.t I met her, half in sorrow; hope still struggled 

with vain fears : 
Still her lips smiled, but her eye-lids were, I felt, 

surcnarged with tears. 
A dark shadow, Ukc a storm-cloud, followed us, 

and fell between, 
And we were not to each other all in other 

davs we'd been. 



LELIA LEE. 39 

Deathly cold upon the garden of my heart that sha- 
dow fell! 

By her troth, my soul, susj)ended, hung o'er all 
earth fears of hell ! 

How long would a hope as feeble as are woman's 
vows, remain ? 

Oh ! to think those dimpled, waxen, trusted hands 
might break the chain ! 

Some hearts bloom but once, and then in sunshine 

like frail Cistus flowers ; 
Like imperishable coral, storm- washed, grew 

that love of ours : 
Meek obedience, grown a habit, touching, might 

annul her will. 

But I knew her love, unchanged, would set to its 
sole object still. 

Through alternate sun and shadow spin the long 
and weary days ; 

Circling on, the great world plunges into aut- 
umn'.- mellow haze. 



40 LELIA LEE. 

Stroao- Briareus from the the hillside shakes his 

mighty hundred arms, 
Greets rude Boreas with defiance, and defends 

the naked farms. 

Under winter's somber tent the snowy world lies 

shivering ; 
From the frozen mere and river merrily the 

swift skates ring ; 
Tender love smiles softly out from muffled, merry 

lips and eyes, 
And the sleigh, b.'noath the moon, is liappy, too, 

and almost flies. 

Christmas spreads kind hands in blessing, love 
awakes in home and mart; 

Christmas smiles, and lionest laughter rij)ples 
from the whole WfU'ld's heart : 

And the New Year, in the shij) of Progri-S'^, stand- 
ing at tiie iielm, 

Points aliead to truer promise, larj:er ho^)..- for 
man and realm. 



LELIA LEE. 



41 








42 LELIA LEE. 

With the trinity of time consulting, drowning in 
warm tears 

Our resentment, glad we welcome each good pros- 
pect that appears. 

Winter, weeping, strikes his tent, and April's gold- 
en key unlocks 

Nature's treasury of herbs and grasses for the 
grazing flocks. 

We were strolling where bright flowers smiled from 
every bush and nook ; 

She was silent, and I whispered, as we paused be- 
side a brook : — 

"Dear, my thoughts, when you are near me, like 
a runlet in the sun, 

Laugh in eddies, meet in music, dimpling bear 
rich flowers on; 

''Like a deep pool, heavy shadowed, in a solemn, 

silent wood. 
Are my thoughts when we are parted, is my soul 

in solitude." 



LELIA LEE. 43 

Then she, smiling in reproof, said, "Fret not at 

afflictions, while 
Patience is the lucious fruit produced on thorny 

stems of trial." 
Thus the precepts of religion, blossoming on lips 

adored, 
Sweetened all things; she could soothe my troubled 

spirit with a word. 
But we seldom met together, and the fruit my 

trial bore 
Was not patience, for my rival seemed to triumph 

more and more, 

Peter Phipps was little natured, talking ever of 

himself, 
Ekeing out one low idea, boasting of his stock and 

pelf; 
Leering like an idiot and full of petty tyrannies, 
Little lordling, happy in a little honor paid to 

fees. 



44 LELIA LEE. 

Weakling was he, yet a lover ol himself, and self 

approved ; 
Rival only in the name, if not by Lelia's parents 

moved : 
But my soul was greatly shaken, whicli my darling 

saw with ruth ; 
"Clarence," said she, ^'Clarence Clare, doubt God 

before you doubt my truth." 



O, the honest heart reveals itself, however schooled 
to lie; 

Faster than the lips can speak, it writes the 
truth in lip and eye : 

She had spoken half the truth ; her heart would ever 
be the same. 

But her will was growing weak, like iron soften- 
ed in the flame. 

Love is jealous in its essence, sweetly-sad insanity ; 
Doubting makes its darling dearer, maddens it 
to misery; 



LELIA LEE. 45 

Eros dips his darts in poison, and they fly to mur- 
der rest : 

All the heart is fused with fever till each feeling 
burns the breast. 

Hours of silence, nightly vigils, visions like real- 
ities; 

Glancing forms with half-seen faces lit by veiled, 
but beaming, eyes; 

Folded arms and listless pacing, spectral feet that 
hurried by; 

Looks expectant, sudden blushes, then the dis- 
appointed sigh, 

Proved my passion. Trustin©;, doubting, hoping, 

fearing, still I wooed, 
Feeling she was daily growing distant, shrinking 

and subdued. 
Once I felt that love would triumph, twice I felt 

that we must part, — 
Oh ! it was the golden wedges slowly pressing 

heart from heart. 



46 LELIA LEE. 

In a breast o'erwrought with passion long suspense 

will choke hope dumb; 
Better feel a coming sorrow than to feel that it 

must come ! 
Was it best I should desert her when I knew she 

loved me yet ? 
Leave the pathway clear before her to the snare 

by schemers set? 

While she loved me she must suffer persecution for 

my sake, 
Or leave all and take me only; and 'tis hard 

home ties to break. 
Should I leave her, and forever, would she suffer 

more ? or less ? 
Could I save her from herself, or was the only 

end distress ? 

1 hough I questioned all its prophets still the fu- 
ture would not speak, 

And a hope without some anchor, like a ship on 
rocks, is weak : 



LELIA LEE. 47 

I<^norance was woe and dreading, knoM'kdge could 

be only woe : 
Love and doubt had reached that crisis when 

the heart must break or know. 

O sweet river, flowers kissed thee, violets shyly 
bending doAvn, 

And thy happy heart was heaving wildly, warmly 
as my own : 

Thou wert whispering and laughing with thy darl- 
ings near the shore, 

While thy silvery hands caressed them gently, coy- 
ly o'er and o'er. 

And my love and I were sitting in the dear accus- 
tomed place, 

Something like the old-time radiance beaming 
from her beauteous face : 

If our spirits still were wedded, better that our 
hands should be ; 

S3ie had suffered, but no longer should she suffer 
wrong for me ; — 



■^8 LELIA LP:E. 

"Come" I said, "Let us uot tarry where each hour 
adds greater woe ; 

Come, with love our guardian angel, can it matter 
where we go '! 

Far away beyond the oeean we will build a little 
home 

On whose heath the blighting shadow of our sor- 
rows cannot come. 

"In exchange for home and kindred, little can I 

offer you ; 
But I leave my all behind me, I have home and 

kindred, too ! 
I cannot now offer jewels, wealth of gold or wealth 

of land. 
But, devoted to your service are my honor, heart 

and hand. 

"Yes; and W'hen life's griefs and crosses heavily 

upon you fall. 
Coming to our happy cottage as they come ta 

darken all — 



LELIA LEE. 49 

Then will I bo alwiiy.v near you, as at noiuing, s^o 

at night ; 
As I shield you now from sunbeams I will shield 

you then frou) blight. 

"Touched by love, plain bread and water sweeter 

are than any f ast 
AVhere presides not true affeetion ; loving hearts are 

hap])iest. 
Wealth fills not the emj)ty bosom, and the hol'ow 

ring of gold 
Is bold moekery of ambition, when the keys of 

choice are sold. 

" Come, for should we longer tarry, we must part 

or fly at last ; 
To defer is fatal blindness when the final die i.^ 

cast : 
Love is holy ; God has blessed it ! Without you my 

heart would die ; — 
With its living threads you're woven ; come, my 

darling, let us fly !" 
4 



50 LELIA LEE. 

Then she said, " I will go with you, all I ask is 

what you'd give, — 
Love, — the one I love near always, home, where I 

in peace may live. 
All you know may grow cold-hearted, but my hear^ 

is warm and true ; 
Gladly will I leave behind me home, yes all, to 

go with you. 

"Till I met you life was barren of the fruit it since 

has borne, — 
Fruit that sorrow only ripens cannot blighted be 

by scorn. 
Let those who now wrong, desert me; I care not so 

you love on; 
Absent stars are only noted when the brighter sun 

is gone." 

Weeping, said she, " What affection prompts in wo- 
man, do she must, 

Lo, I give myself to you with all a woman's holy 
trust !" 



LELIA LEE. 51 

Then, half-smiling, " As I look upon this spot, I 

wonder whether 
In the cot of which you speak we can have haj)pier 

hours together. 

* Good-bye, Clarence ; wait till Autumn folds the 

little flowers away, 
Hiding them in mystic cradles wliere they sleep 

and wait for May. 
Ask not why I wish to tarry, I can only say, 'tis 

best ; 
So, until the forests brighten, let our hearts in 

true-love rest." 

Then she kissed her hand and waved it, waved it 
gracefully to me, — 

Smiling, tripping lightly from me to her home 
across the lea. 

Often coyly looking backward, sometimes gather- 
ing a flower. 

Thus she left me, loft me musing long and lonely 
in ihc bower. 



52 LELIA LEE. 

As I mused my spirit saddened slowly from its 

rapturous height; 
Had I not another rival? one whose kiss would 

burn and blight? — 
For her cheek was hot and hectic, and her glances 

glowed too much ; 
Ah, she was so Irail and fragile, and the Angel 

best loves such ! 

Oft a tender heart, in humble silence drooping, 

withereth ; 
Ever, to the meek and timid, constant sorrow heralds 

death ; 
Ever wooing, slowly winning, always with her he 

would be, — 
Would he, when the forests brightened, fold my 

flower away from me ? — 

Better in the shadowy Harem that she with the an- 
gel rest 

Than that one a woman loves not clasp her nightly 
to his breast! 



LELIA LEE. 63 

Better die than live and love not ! better death than 

death in life ! 
Death is kind, a welcome suitor, when he wooes a 

loveless wife. 

But, the silvery darts of Dian quiver in thy bil- 
lowy breast, 

O fond River! she smiles coldly while you seek, 
but find not rcst ? 

Farewell now, and may new flowers wake to list 
thy happier song; 

*Tis not best my thoughts should waken days that 
have been dead so long. 



To Q. E. 'WjLi'BlIl^, 0]. \., 



PROFESSOR OF LITERATURE AND LANGUAGES AT ADRIAN 
COLLEGE, 



This Second Canto of ''Leiia Lee" 
is Dedicated, 



In admiration of his talent, and gratitude for his instruction, 
By the Author. 



Lelia Lee. 



LELIA LEE. 59 



LELIA LEE. 

I. 

Canto II. 
Love is not one of the passions, but the angel of 

them all ; 
None could be if it were not, each only wakens at 

its call. 

Strange its power to still the heart to dreams ec- 
static; stranger still, 

While an attribute of soul, it is not subject to the 
will. 



60 LELIA LEE. 

Friend or foe, and never neutral, it can make the 

heart a heaven, 
Or can rend it as the oak by crashing thunderbolt 

is riven. 

Locked in fond embraces, love gives every hour 

Apollo's wings. 
And each moment, growing gayer, some new 

song of rapture sings ; 

When alone, love damps the plumage of the hours 

with many tears. 
And they pass so wearily that weeks are months^ 

and months are years. 

Sad I watch the days wear through the wall of 

time that hides from view 
Loved eyes forever beaming with a beauty ever 

new. 

Lelia, dear, my heart is dreaming, dreaming of you 

all the day : 
Do you ever think of me, in our dear bower far 

away ? 



LELTA lp:f:. 61 

I must love and wait! and waiting makes tha 

mournful minutes crawl 
Wounded serpents, slowly, slowly tlirough the 

mind's deserted liall. 

I must love and wait ! Love cannot wait and yet 

be love, if true ; 
It is agony, 'tis yearning! thirsty fire drinks all its 

dew. 

Lelia, Lelia, I am waiting, but my soul is sadly 

tried ; 
I would give a year of heaven for a moment at 

your side; 

I would give the light of heaven, all the softness 
ol its skies. 

All the stars that gem it over, just to see your star- 
ry eyes! 

Vain, vain ; it could not be if I would give my 
very soul : 

I am left alone with love whose cords are silken, — 
but control. 



62 LELIA LEE. 

Yet the eyes I hate are on her, and the jingling of 

his gold 
In the pocket of the pampered fool will make him 

over-bold. 

He will haunt her like her shadow, — it will fall 

upon the ground, 
But the shadow of his wealth will darkly on her 

heart be found. 

Torrid beams are boating, beating straight into my 

fevered brain; 
Reason trembles to the tread of wakened passion's 

maddened train. 

None so low but in them somewhere is a magnet 

that can draw 
Others even to their level, — may I lose her by this 

law? 

He will now be always with her; he may rise and 

she descend 
Till they meet in mutual love, and former adverse 

natures blend. 



LELIA LEE. 63 

There is sorrow in the thought beyond the power 

of words to tell : 
It is anguish to be jealous, jealous when I love so 

well. 

Jealousy, thou art a poison, gangrene art thou of 

the heart, 
Changing by foul chemistry to bitterness each 

sweetest part. 

Thou hast made the summer hateful ; of each pleas- 
ant thought beguiled, 

Fain am I to soothe my heart, which frets as would 
a peevish child. 

While my fears seem premonitions of an evil soon 

to be. 
Woe has wrought a half narcosis, dread is mixed 

with apathy. 

Like a dream of hands that beckon o'er a chasm 

wide, dark, and deep 
Are the ghostly thoughts that haunt me, till I pray 

for strength to weep. 



64 LELIA LEE, 



SONG. 



Lone, lone am I, and all amusements cloy. 
Dead, too, am I, insensible to joy ; 
What is the dew to flowers brown and sere? 
Lone, lone am I, though many friends be near, 



What cure can be for spirits sick of flowers? 
Sick, sick, so sick, of heavy days and hours? 
Long longing deep for living days of change, 
Fond fancy withers if it may not range. 



Brave warriors smile to die upon the field, 
Pioud nations watch and bless the arms they 

wield ; 
Lone, sad I fight my battle in the dark. 
Shamed should I fall, but vict'ry none would 

mark. 



LELIA LEE. 65 



II. 

Will the autumn never come ! the roses are not 

fair to me ; 
How much dearer to my heart the cones of rosy 

leaves would be ! 

Let the toiling, heated Summer go as quickly as 

she may; 
She can give to me no flowers like the one she 

keeps away. 

Bluer are September's skies than those which 

brightly bend in June; 
Give to me the fresh, cool morn, and take this 

sweating, languid noon. 

ye Avarblers, seek the sonth-land, with your 

milder melodies ; 

1 would hear the blackbirds chat of olden time in 

tinted trees. 



66 ^ LELIA LEE. 

Oh to see the crows in cluster ou the branches bare 

and high, 
Catch the liquid music flowing from the lark, far in 

the sky] 

Oh that I might see the Sumac shake his darts 

ablaze with blood. 
See the social groups of asters, starry spires of 

golden-rod! 

Oh for grass all crisp and sparkling, for keen 

breezes that inspire, 
For the weirdly whispering forest with its myriad 

tongues of fire ! 

Oh to see the haze o'erhang the misty hilltops far 

away, 
See the snowy laces heaving on the bosom of the 

Day. 

Let me see the soft light dying in the half-transpar- 
ent west, 

While all nature round me sinks to sweet, but mel- 
ancholy rest. 



LELIA LEE. 67 

Let the evening fires be lighted, and the pensive 

tales be told 
Of our father's toils and triumphs in the trying days 

of old. 

He will tell the stirring stories of that rude but won- 
drous time, 

When, where now the city stands, the haughty for- 
est stood sublime. 

Then the child, wide wonder-eyed, shall breathe the 

solemn woodland air, 
Track the red deer o'er the snow, and follow hard 

the growling bear. 

She will follow with the old man to his cabin in the 

dell, 
Sit before the crackling log-fire, hear the gaunt 

wolves yelp and yell; 

Live through grandpa's days of danger, days Avhen 

men must do or die. 
Till the shrieking wind of winter shrills into the 

Indian's cry. 



68 LELIA LEE. 

Frightened, she will nestle nearer, clasp him with 

her round, young arms; 
Then will wrinkled hands cares.s her, till she wakes 

from her alarms. 

And the hoary head will tell of long forgotten 

brooks and bowers, 
Dreamy tales of love and longiog that call back the 
buried hours. 

Then the child will wipe away a tear that o'er his 

eyelid creeps, 
Pity hiui and pat his cheek, and wonder why the 

old man weeps. 

Fairer hope will smile within him at the touch of 

that small hand, 
And the graves behind him seem arched gateways 

to the Better I^nd. 

Through his face a smile will steal as through thin 

clouds the sunlight creeps ; 
He will softly sing old ballads till the little darling 

sleeps. 



LELIA LEE. 69 

Lelia, then, and I shall sit by our own fireside, all 

alone, 
In that happy solitude where all we wish is all our 

own. 

Not a sorrow in our hearts and not a shadow on our 
hearth. 

We shall cease to dream of Heaven, having Para- 
dise on earth. 

Mind and mind, and heart and heart shall meet each 

other over books 
liead together, e'en as runnels, meeting, mingle into 

brooks. 

We shall loye each other better as the beaming days 

go t)y ; 

Often will my tender words awake the soft light in 
her eye. 

When we talk of vanished days in dreamy under- 
tones of rest, 

Warmly shall my arms embrace her, while she nes- 
tles to mv breast. 



70 LELIA LEE. 

Pity for our foes shall be till bitterness no longer 

lives ; 
Not a thought of hate shall burn to mar the bliss our 

triumph gives. 

Every day some winged charm will leave its cum- 
bering chrysalis ; 

All the good that may not be we will create from 
good that is. 

Every duty will be dear, for love shall all our being 

be ; 
I will live for her alone, and all her smiles will be 

for me. 

When I'm weary with long toil, her kiss will rest 

me at the door ; 
When I enter home the fetters of the day shall chafe 

no more. 

I will leave upon the threshold all vexations, cares, 

and strife: 
Shadows in a world of shade, but only sunshine with 

my wile ! 



I^ELIA LEE. 71 

Love shall weave itself a body ; baby eyes to me 

shall speak ; 
Cool, soft lips caress my own, and little hands 

lie on my cheek. 

Love shall broaden like a tree, and blossom through 

the sunny years. 
Striking deeper roots, and bearing frnit but rij)enet| 

by life's cares. 

'Round our hearth will sons and daughters gather 

at their mother's knee, 
List to stories of the past and wonder that such days 

could be. 

For our ]>resent will be the past, to children of the 

coming years; 
They will only see our smiles, for dusty days will 

hide our tears. 

Fancy then will rear the fabric to the level of its 

spire ; 
It will be the good old time, the magic magnet o^ 

de.sire. 



72 LELIA LEE. 

In those days of large attainments, when the btids 

of promise now 
Seen by wise eyes that but marvel, shall be fruit 

upon the bough ; 

When the great suggestions yield that redden in the 

fires of thought; 
When at last in human hearts the anchor of the 

world is wrought ; 

Still the tendrils of desire will strongly twine about 

the past. 
And the ruin of old creeds with tender light be 

overcast. 

Silver hairs beloved and cherished make the past 

and present one ; 
Love still kisses friends departed, though their 

every wreath be gone. 

But I waken from my dreaming, and the roses all 

around 
With their perfume lade the breeze, and with their 

petals strew the ground. 



LELIA LEE. 73 



SONG. 



O hasten, Autumn, with thy grief 

Of wailing winds and withered leaf; 

Come, quickly come through wood and wold, 

And gild all nature with thy gold ; 

Oh, dear will be thy smiles to me, 

For love and Lelia come with thee. 

O come and give the trees their crown. 
And let thy scarlet robe fall down 
O'er each and all, till in the glades 
Its distant train in beauty fades ; 
But love shall be my crown, more fair, 
And bliss shall be the robe I wear. 

What matter if the birds do flee 
And li'ave the lonely world to thee '? 
How bright will be that loneliness 
Which she with tender words shall bless! 
Let all things go ! I'll happiest be 
When most alone with Lelia Lee. 



74 LELIA LEE. 

We »hall i>ot fear thy chilly breath 

Which strews the earth with blushing death ; 

But, nestled warmly, breast to breast, 

We'll lie like birdliiigs in a nest, 

And smile at every raving blast 

That smites the pane while rushing past. 

O come, and streak the meadow's head 
With silvery gray of grass that's dead ; 
Come, bring the purple, star-gemmed night. 
Its solemn stillness and pale light ; 
O hasten, for I lon^ to see 
The starry eyes of l^elia Lee. 




THE WALHONDING. 



LELIA LEE. 77 



III, 



Slowly, shyly goes the summer, leaving in the heart 

and miud 
All the perfume of its flowers, and its whispered 

thoughts, behind. 

Tripping, coquetting September! smiling till the 

heart is won, 
Coldly turns she from her lovers, leaves them with 

a haughty frown. 

Now the lint-white hair and red, that waved in 

summer's breezy morn, 
Clustering in thick, black ringlets, overhangs the 

ears of corn. 

Asters, goldea-rod and gentians rule the kingdom 

of the flowers ; 
Slowly, through Time's half shut fingers, slip the 

sands in solemn hours. 



78 LELIA LEE, 

Autumn sings of days gone by to fairies clustered 
at her fevt ; 

Underlying every tone there sighs a cadence bitter- 
sweet. 

Strolling in the Indian summer, all my being 

strongly sets 
To sweet themes that touch to tears, and which the 

bosom ne'er forgets. 

Far off in the lonely forest do I hear the acorns 

fall ; 
In the trees the squirrels sport, and from the marsh 

t.ie blackbirds call. 

From the brush the partridge whirs, across my path 

the rabbit leaps. 
Startled, down the hollow, swift on gleaming wing, 

the redbird sweeps. 

From the woods the shrill jay screams, and merry 

laughter borne from far 
Tells me where, beneath the nut-trees, all my merry 

comrades are. 



LELIA LEE. 79 

Love to them has been the satin, next the chestnut, 

in the burr, 
Bitt to me the cruel thorns, — yet it is true, it 

loves but her ! 

Love for one has made of me a dreamy stranger to 

my kind ; 
It were best so, if love trusted blindly, and could be 

all blind. 

'Tis a time when the heart wakes, alert in every 
spirit-sense; 

Now companionship can stir each thread of life, al- 
ready tense. 

Love in many hearts is waiting but a channel where 

to flow ; 
Melting now to nature's mood, all loving souls are 

doubly so. 

I am lonely as a bird, left by the flock, without a 

mate; 
Shivering In this paling sun, heart-weary and all 

dejsolate. 



80 LELIA LEE. 

From its cavern in the sky descends the newly- 
wakened breeze, 

Spins the dust in tops gigantic, silver-flecks the 
maple trees. 

]■ irst it raves in sorrow's fury, shrieking out its wail- 
ing cries ; 

Then despair with sorrow mingles^ and its voice is 
lost in sigh*. 

I am changeful, too, and fickle, puppet to a sickly 

mood, 
With a maudlin love of nature, born of too much 

solitude. 

I had thought to seek her now, but whispers sweep 
the harp of love, 

And it mourns prophetic dole, like the far coo- 
ing of a dove. 

Faith, I bid thee silence Doubt I the world, with a 

sharp beak of lies, 
Pulls the heart to bits for sport, nor pities till its. 

victim dies. 



LELIA LEE. 81 

What have I to do with munmirs breaking from a 

babbling lip ? 
With a man whose heart is dead could Lelia find 

companionship? 

I, who think myself unworthy, can I deem her fallen 

so low 
As to meet his gabe with love? — and while laws 

reign, could it be so? 

All to me and one to him ! Perhaps those hearts are 

happiest 
Which are so much mixed with clay that the last 

eyes that smile are best. 

Rumor shall not shake a purpose founded on my 

love and oath ; 
These dark days may yet prove angels bringing 

blessing for us both. 

Every falling leaflet thrills me like some face with 

beauty bright 
Only seen one little instant ere it vanishes from 
sight. 
6 



82 LELIA LEE. 

Wounded trees are oozing bLiod which stands iu 

drops upon the leaves ; 
All the forest kings are dying, dying while their 

mother grieves. 



Ah, they die, but life is in them still to give wan 

death the lie ; 
Lelia, I have loved too well, and love and God caa 

never die. 



Hark ! her tender tones are thrilling through this 

spirit-haunted air, — 
Thrilling through it like soft music through some 

half-divine despair: — 



Yes, she calls! my heart can hear the voice that 

bids me go to her ; 
I would haste to her embrace if deep in Death my 

darling were. 



LELIA LEE. 83 



SONG. 



I am coming, O beloved, 

To tliy bower by the stream ; 
I am coming, O beloved, 

Light me with thy bright eye's beam. 
Let thy love shine through the shadows 

With soft radiance divine ; 
Let thy loving heart be faithful 

For my heart is ever thine. 

I am coming, O beloved. 

And my heart is mad with bliss ; 

Soon my ardent soul will quiver 
To the rapture of thy kiss ! 

I am coming, O beloved ; 
All the floating clouds above 

Glimmer with a holy halo 

Overspread with lambent love. 



84 LEI J A LP:E. 

I am coming, darling, coming, 

And thy smile lies all around, 
Blessing with a l)righter beauty 

All the brilliant, leaf-strown ground. 
Darling, darling, welling upward 

From my very soul of souls, 
Is a passion, flaming, burning 

Which through all my being rolls. 

What a matted mass ol beauty 

In the wooded vnlley lies, — 
All the forest blooming brighter 

Than the blush of sunset skies: 
Softer, Lelia, and more rosy 

Will the rays of our love twine ; 
What a rainbow could be woven 

From the faintest smile of thine! 

I am coming, O beloved. 

As a turtle seeks its nest ! 
I am coming, O beloved, 

As a saint would haste to rest ! 



LELIA LEE. 85 



See you meet me, see you greet me 
Lest my soul should faint in me I 

Darling Lelia, dove-eyed I^elia, 
I am languishing for thee. 



•IV. 



From this bridge, far down the stream, I dimly see 

the willow tree 
Neath whose shadow, in the jiast, my love so often 
sat with me. 

There are pictures in the mind that time or sorrow 

never dims; 
La>t to fade of all are scenes that warm affeetion 

brightly lim »s. 

O that by this pleasant river I a little home might 

rear ; 
Life would be all peace, nor lack one chtiim, if we 

mij^h [>a.ss it here. 



86 LELIA LEE. 

How familiar every pathway ! Every tree and rock 

I know, 
They are bright with their own beauty and dear 

thoughts of long ago. 

I will gather these wild asters, and the daisies at 

my feet; 
I will wreathe her head with flowers, as of old, 

when we shall meet. 

Quietly will Lelia meet me, with fond dew-drops 

in her eyes, 
And her full, fresh lips will tremble, roses in her 

cheeks will rise. 

'Neath the willow now I hear her, — just a voice 

and not the words ; 
Her low tones by distance softened, sound like 

sleepy songs of birds. 

O my heart! how thou art bounding with a rap- 
ture, mystic, mad; 

Strange that ghostly expectation chills thee when 
thou art so glad ! 



LELIA LEE. 87 

Ah! but every bliss is maddened by the sorrow it 

€onceals, 
Till, if thought were on the throne, the heart would 

wonder what it feels. 

Is she talking to the river, asking it if I am 

near? 
Does her bosom overflow with love so wistfully 

sincere? 

Modest, meek-eyed little Lelia, beauty bends her 

brightest bow 
O'er the shore and through the blue, where'er thy 

dainty footsteps go. 

Does my darling dream of me? Then blessings on 

her pretty head — 
With her voice another mingles, and my spirit 

qjuakes with dread ! 

Stealing nearer, I behold them — better that I did 

not see ! 
Peter Phipps is at her side to stifle any thoughts of 

me. 



88 LELIA LEE. 

On her linger is a ring whose gems gleam brightly 

in the snn; 
Oh! it needs no words to tell me now that western 

wealth has won ! 

Ah, the Babylonian Beltes reigns as in the days of 

old; 
At her shrine the girls are offered, waiting for the 

piece of gold. 

Jarring is her laugh, and hollow in its mockery of 
bliss, — 

See ! I think she almost shudders 'neath the tri- 
umph of a kiss. 

Sh'*, too, suffers ! So it should be! for her very 

soul is sold ; 
May her heart within her wither! his be heavy as 

his gold ! 

L'-t nif, like a wounded eagle, look but once upon 

the sky, 
Th?n, in silence of the forest, let me hide myself 

and die ! 




J'flii 1 liJj))>^ I-. ii lid sJtU toMiJk iii\ tUouglitsot'uie. 



LELIA LEE. 91 

Oh, what mysteries were solved, if I should break 

the bonds of clay ; 
All ray nobler aspirations beckon, beckon me 

away. 

Die? — why should I not? for life is full of all that 

should not be ; 
Surely it has never given aught but misery to 

me. 

Folded in the fallen leaves, strown by the breeze 

above my breast, 
Far away, and all alone, how quiet it will be to 

rest. 

What will matter to me then the sorrows of the 

earth o'erhead? 
Memory^s voice no sound awakens in the deaf ears 

of the dead. 

Golden haired, a smiling seraph guards the gateway 

of the west ; 
See ! the sun has passed the portal, and is sinking 

into rest. 



92 LELIA LEE, 

In an instant I can })a8S the portal of the wo«der- 

gate; 
I have power to leaive my sorrows, break my 

cliains — and must I wait ? 

Fool I my hope should sta;y my haad ! for if no other 

joy lemain, 
There is even bliss in bearing half the weight of 

others' pain. 

Life is worthier than death ; sonse end is throbbing- 

in all pain ; 
I shall not regret my grief when God has made its 

purpose plain. 

But to me this place is loathsome; let me softly 

steal away ; 
Let me hide within myself, and shun the world as 

owls shun day. 

Would to G«>d she had been true! ahis, wlien love 

that was divine, 
Sinks in sorrow like to heli, and burns and blights 

like thi< of mine! 



LELIA LEK m 

Fniuter, fainter grow their voices — dead each tooe 

in distaace now.; 
I am faint, and here will rest beneath this oldefa 

oak-tree's boiigli. 

Can it be that woman waxes warm and cold, as sea- 
sons change? 

Are her loves, like summer insects, restless born, 
and formed to range? 

Like false lights that hire the ship to jaws that 

crush it, near the coast, 
Are her smiles that lead to ruin those who love 

.and trust her most. 

It is sad when serpents hide between the pinks on 

beauty's breast. 
Sadder is it if no doves among the lilies ever 

rest ! 

How can he believe the Hies she -archly tells him 
with her eyes, 

If he knows they lied to me, in days that were my 
paradise ? 



94 LELIA LEE. 

Oh, it does not seem in nature that she can be false 

to me ! 
O, my heart, 'tis piteous! I pity thee, I pity 

thee! 

Surely it was not my Lelia sat encircled by his 

arm, — 
I will not believe her faithless ! this is all a false 

alarm I 

It was some one who resembles her that sat beneath 

the tree; 
Lelia ever was true-hearted, and she still is true to 

me. 

Hark ! the faint and distant thundering of hoofs 

and wheels I hear. 
And a windy little cloud is rolling rapidly more 

near. 

Every hoof-beat falls upon it — oh ! my brain is hot 

and reels, 
Sickened, sickened! lam deafened by the whirring 

of the wheels I 



LELIA LEE. 95 

It is she ! and he is with her — thus her falseness 

mocks my trust : 
To my feet a paper flutters in a little cloud of 

dust. 

'Tis a letter, stamped, addressed; she meant to 

mail it in the town : 
Is it bliss or black despair these breezes to my feet 

have blown ? 

It is but a formal sentence, yet I read it o'er and 

o'er : — 
"I have changed, my heart no longer is your own 

as heretofore: 

*' 'Tis their will — you can forget me — we must meet 

no more — good bye ! " 
Yet I saw when she was passing, tear-drops in her 

saintly eye! 

And an air of conquered will, self-abnegation, in 

her then, 
Made her sacred seem, and holy, — fairer than she 

e'er had been. 



96 LELIA LEE. 

She has sold herself to duty — she, a sac re ( sacri- 
fice, 

On an altar, worse than heathen, wiiitinii for (lie 
daofger^ liee ! 

Lelia, Lelia, I forgive you I It uas Avild to w\>li 

you ill ; 
Would my life could shield that heart which hvcaks 

because it loves me still ! 



V. 



Yesterday I kissed a child^ half eynie in my dis- 
content ; 

Baby lips, not meant to thrill, weird fire through 
everv fil>er sent. 

Ruefully I dream of Lelia, fitful dreams, but do> 

not tire ; 
At the touch of any hand my heart awakes to 

vague desire. 



LELIA LEE. 97 

I have seen her eyes in visions till they haunt me 

all the day, 
Even dancing 'neath the lashes of the children at 

their play. 

So the gleeful little cherubs are made doubly dear 

to me, 
And they smile in glad surprise, I fondle them so 

tenderly. 

I will love them till the children shall be lost in 
coming years. 

Till their trust and innocency, shyly fading, dis- 
appears. 

When I wooed her, she, I thought, was pure and 

honest as a child : 
Could I trace deceit and shame in words and deeds 

so chaste and mild? 

Slander's lowest tones, like adders, stealing thi'ough 

the startled air, 
Pass from lip to lip, until their hiss is echoing 
everywhere : 
7 



98 LELIA LEE. 

It is whispered that the real marriage has been, 

but his name 

She will take on New-Year's day, — it is a form 

that lessens shame. 

Love is in its nature free ; it may be crushed, it 

may be slain, 
But it will not be compelled; its noble nature 

scorns a chain. 

Lelia, if she sinned, was frenzied; when a heart has 

lost its all. 
Like a madman on a tower, it laughs, and does not 

fear to fall. 

Duty ! can this act be duty that will break the 

hearts of both? 
Is it just that she must wed with one her very soul 

must loathe? 



LELIA LEE. 99 



TO LEI.IA. 



O Lelia ! can your heart forget 

What you would swear it has forgot ? 

Can love be all in all, and yet 
So soon remembered not? 

Can you forget the vows you spoke 
With trembling lip and dewy eye ? 

Or think of how those vows you broke 
Without, at least, a sigh? 

Though you have striven, can you quite 

Erase from tender memory, 
The glory of the past delight, 

The hours that used to be? 

How many friends were near to show 
A better way than God has shown. 

Ere we were parted ! But they now 
Have left you all alone. 



100 LELIA LEE. 

Any who seek to blight a love 

Are far too base to know its power, 

Or else are demons ! 1 hey who strove 
With intrigue, many an hour, 

To change you, pleading that their years 

Had given them experience, — 
Why do they leave you, love, in tears ? 

Is this the recompense ? 

My curse upon those meddlers, who 
Foretold despair if not obeyed. 

They that may say, " I told you so," 
When th(y have ruin made ! 

They never trod your path, or mine ; 

They could not feel with either heart, 
Yet knew that only thorns could line 

Those paths, unless apart ! 

You listened. Lelia, and my heart 

Has been all dark since first you frowned ; 

In spite of will, the tear drops start — 
My life with thorns is crowned. 



LELIA LEE. lOl 

There is no love that is not true, 

There is no love that can forget ; 
However crushed, or riven through 

With frowns, 'tis faithful yet. 

Whatever change of heart there be, 
'Tis but the passions that can change ; 

It is as true as truth to nie, 
That even though love range, 

'Twill weep e'en while 'tis wandering, 
And long for its deserted rest. 

And eve will waft its downy wing- 
Back to its first fond nest. 

Does your heart never, never melt 

In golden dreams of former weal, 
And touched by joys that it has felt. 

Remember it can feel ? 

You said that you had changed, but yet 
Your woman's heart the words disowned ; 

Tears in your eyes like sapphires set, 
E'en for your I'rown atoned I 



102 LELIA LEE. 

O long has been your erring track, 
And many a stain do others see ; 

But still I love you ! O come back, 
My love, come back to me ! 

One who would give his life for you 
Offers his heart to shield your own. 

One who can love and pity, too. 
When other's smiles are gone. 

Lelia, come back ! one heart is left 
To whom you may be sunlight still, 

One who, when of your smile bereft, 
In life finds only ill. 

Whate'er your stains, they cannot last, 
I'll wash them out with many a tear. 

Come back ! I will forget the past 
In knowing you are near. 

We will not think of joys that died, 
Nor of the sorrows that were born ; 

The past may in its shadows hide ; 
We'll welcome the new morn. 



LELTA LEE. 103 

Thy dear heart's sorrows bid me weep ; 

I'm wounded by the thorns you strew ; 
But ever in my heart I keep 

The same old place for you. 

Destiny has parted us, and it is useless to resist ; 
All my hope has faded from me, as the moonlight 
fades in mist. 

On the New- Year she will wed him, and the days 

too swiftly speed, 
For I would not see her his, although I know 'tis 

so decreed. 

Stay, O Autumn, do not go ; thy sadness and meek 

melancholy 
Soften, with their spell, my sorrows to a calm that's 

almost holy. 

Stay, for winter stern and rude, will have no heart 

to sigh with me ; 
Thou hast won me with thy promise, soothe me 

with thy sympathy. 



104 LELIA LEE. 

Stay, oh, stay with me ! Thou art a friend in joy 

and woe the same, 
While the friendship of my kind is only friendship 

in the name. 

Nature, thou hast been to me a solace and a dear 

delight, 
Lend thy smile to drive away the doleful darkness 

of this night. 

Mother, let me lay my head upon thy mossy lap 

and rest ; 
Mother, thou hast been my mother ! I with thee 

am happiest. 

I have told thee all my secrets, all my sorrow thou 

hast known ; 
Thou hast been my only comfort when the hard 

world left me lone. 

Never yet didst thou desert me, never yet unkind 

hast proved, 
Thy great heart can understand me, and we love as 

few have loved. 



LELIA LEE. 105 

Men have made them groove-like paths, and those 

are fools who follow not ; 
In thy ear, alone, the poet dares to pour his free, 

wild thought. 

Men are ruled by bastard notions, kiss the feet of 
sceptered fools; 

Loneliness to me is better, where the heart or rea- 
son rules. 

Those who suffer not for truth are wrong, unless 

the truth be old ; 
Oh ! how many thoughts are crushed while they 

are throbbing to be told ! 

Deep emotions upward rush, and tremble on tlie 

tuneful tongue. 
But they fear the frowning world, and sadly hide 

away unsung. 

And the over-burdened heart in silence suffers long, 

and breaks ; 
Then, to the despair it nourished, all the world in 

wonder wakes. 



106 LELIA LEE. 

Those who smiled not for the living, pour their 

tears upon the dead, 
But no kindred soul is found until the lonely soul 

has fled. 



I will dare to own the truth, whatever be the 

world's belief; 
I would hear thy voice, O Nature, though all other 

ears were deaf. 



All that I best loved is taken — she of whom I sang 

to thee ; 
Thou hast never mocked my passion, thou canst 

sympathize with me. 



Let thy daughter Autumn stay, for she was made 

to weep with me ; 
True condolence ever proves an angel in Gethse- 

mane. 



To My 

DEAR WIFE 

This 

THIRD CANTO OF LELIA LEE 

Is Offered in Love, 

AS AN EXPRESSION OF MY DESIRE 

To Link Her Name 

With This, the Least Unworthy 

Of My Works. 



LELIA LEE. 107 



LELIA LEE. 

Canto III. 

Lorsque je vols un amant, 

II cache en vain son toiirraeut, 

A le traliir tout conspire, 

•Sa langueur son embarras, 

Tout ee qu'il peut faire ou dire, 

Meine se qu'il ne pas. — La Fosse. 

I. 

Slowly, sadly, five long years o'er thorn-lined paths 
have crawled away 

Since the witchery and woe of lovely Lelia's wed- 
ding day. 

Wildly wailed the wind, and madly through each 

crevice shrieked it wild. 
Like weird cries of terror breaking from the breast 

of some lost child; 



108 LELIA LEE. 

Quaking, quivering, the building creaked with 

many a ghostly sound. 
Shaking like a furious giant stricken with a deadly 

wound. 

Everywhere a fearful presence seemed to brood, and 

chuckle, " Gold, 
Bought with gold and brought to grief, — 'tis done, 

her heart and peace are sold !" 

I could read it in her face, I heard it in the raving 

trees, 
And its echo struck my soul, and made each purple 

channel freeze. 

In the rustle of her robes there seemed enchant- 
ment ; and a spell. 

Woven by her glittering jewels, coldly on my bosom 
fell. 

Few who saw her at the altar would have dared to 

guess her thought ; 
Dazed, benumbed, with awful calmness did she give 

the hand he bought. 



LELIA LEE. 109 

Vague, indefinite terror stole througli all my being 
as I saw, 

While her stifled heart was free, her hand was fet- 
tered by the law : 

Like another Niobe, a stony figure there she stood ; 
From her bosom hope had fled, and from her icy 
cheek the blood. 

All could see it was not she who stood so silent at 

his side ; 
She, — her heart, — was far away ; her body only was 

his bride.* 

No resentment in her manner marred the perfect 

sacrifice, 
And the smile was calm and holy that illumed her 

dewy eyes. 

Yet in all a pathos lurked, far deeper than all 
spoken thought ; 

Hers was but the deathly quiet of a bosom over- 
wrought. 



110 LELIA LEE. 

There are storms whose awful fury smooth the mad 
waves of the sea; 

So the heart is awed to calmness by its utter agony. 

Yellow flames danced in his eyes, on triumph's altar 

kindled there ; 
She was listless with the aimless, dreary sickness of 

despair. 

She was to him as the toy a child contends for in 

its play ; 
But he broke her heart in getting, and soon tossed 

the toy away. 

Oh, how many a tender woman, with large senti- 
ments and sense, 

Touched by all the finer feelings, full of warm soul 
power intense ; 

Made to be a good man^s helper, and to grace a 

noble sphere 
"With those sterling qualities that, longest worn, 

most bright appear ; 



LELIA LEE. Ill 

Bowed and bound by false ideas, wear a weary life 

away, 
Mated with some brutish man, whose harshness 

hastes the heart's decay J 

She was his, forever his, who had been all in all to 

me. 
While I felt he loved not her, but only loved his 

victory. 

Yet her father beamed with bliss through all his 

selfish little soul ; 
She can learn to love, he said, and did not know 

himself a fool. 

But a Nemesis was near, and struck as in the days 

of old ; 
He had sold his child to sorrow, death was lurking 

in the gold. 

Like a dog he fought and fell, a loathly drunken 
thing, and died. 

Oaths and curses from his lips, and hot blood gush- 
ing from his side. 



112 LELIA LEE. 

Mercy treasures all the tears for justice, that the 

wronged ones weep; 
Evil pays its own reward of evil ; vengeance does 

not sleep. 

In the frozen earth they laid the one whose heart 

had been as cold ; 
Just it was, for he had lived too long although he 

was not old. 

Only she, the wronged one, wept the tears that 

froze upon his tomb ; 
Where they fell sweet flowers will spring, if on such 

turf they ever bloom ! 

Humbly, then, she stooped to find the silvery clue 

that patience lays 
In each labyrinth of life, and meekly held it all her 

days. 

Oh, the deep, unspoken record, traced upon the 

heart in tears. 
Through those long, unhappy days that slowly 

faded into years ! 



lp:lia lei<]. 113 

Gold to silver ohanjrcd, and silver into copper 

turned at last ; 
Neither was love thereto gild the base deception of 

ihe past. 

Yet she bore, and uncomplaining, his injustice and 

neglect, 
Dunihly bore a weight of sorrow that is felt or 

never recked. 

From tho palace to the cottage, when the world de- 
serted him, 

IJravely, quietly, she iollowed, with a smile no 
loss could dim. 

Wronged the most, she most torgavc, and mur- 
mured not, nor ever chid ; 

All that is a good wife's })art, with tireless cheer- 
fulness she did. 

Even when her heart was bleeding she was gay 

when he was near ; 
All her tears in secret fell that home might lose no 

ray of cheer. 



114 LELIA LEE. 

Sobs choked back, till they but quiver in the laugh 

they underlie, 
Are unquiet in their graves, and weep beyond the 

pitying sky. 

Tears that women bottle up in breaking hearts, but 

never shed, 
Angels gather from the dust, for witnesses, when 

they are dead. 

Weak, weak woman ! yet she shrinks not from the 

burden, but the blftw ; 
Bravely will she bear or bury griefs the world 

would blubh to know. 

All her wrongs she hides away, deep in her heart, 

where none can see ; 
Weak in all that's base and rude, strong in all that's 

heavenly ! 

Lelia, yet almost a child, the maid of meadow-land 

and wood. 
Was a woman as God made her, modest, and by 

nature good. 




From the i^alace to the cottage. 



LELIA LP:E. 117 

Seeking nothing for herself, too true to one she 

never loved, 
In his battles with the world her oft-pierced heart 

the best shield proved. 

In all trials she was near him, a sweet minister of 

good; 
When he faltered, and had fall'n, she with him still 

unfaltering stood. 

By her gentleness and goodness, peace she pressed 

from ufiscry; 
With her tender hands she twined the myrtle 

round life's cypress tree ! 

But in all there was a secret worm that eat the 

flower away ; 
Faithful wife ! she gave him life by dying for him 

day by day ! 

Ah, the bird may sweetly, sadly sing for him who 

steals its" eyes, 
But its free heart pines for freedom till the little 

warbler dies ! 



118 LELIA LEE. 



IT. 

I have strnn;:!; my lyre with lieart-tlircads; softlj^ 

let me touch it here : 
'Tis a spot that hundreds know, Init only one can 

know how dear ! 

Like mv soul, the place is changed, and shrouded 

in a doleful dress ; 
Winter where there once was sj)ring, and dearth 

where once was loveliness. 

I have seen her wander here, a little prattler at her 

side, 
Fair, bright ima»;e of her girlhood, at reflective 

eventide. 

" Mother, see the shining water! what a pretty tree 

is this ! 
Mother, take my hand; I love yon, mother, and I 

want a kiss." 



LELIA LEE. 119 

But she did not see the water, did not heed the 

baby's plea; 
Ears that heard not, eyes that saw not, heart that 

walked with Memory ! 

Oh, how lorn was all the place! an old house 

stood here long ago ; 
'Mid the ruins still, in Summer, garden herbs and 

flowers grow. 

Mingled here the rose and rue, the myrtle and the 

mignonette, 
And the air ol other days hung sadly o'er the old 

place yet. 

Lelia here sat down and wept, the child in wonder 

standing by, 
Lisping broken words of comfort, watching with a 

pitying eye. 

Kuined home, and ruined life! wan Desolation 

crowned with flowers ! 
Sadness rendered more than sad by artless hints of 

happier hours! 



120 LELIA LEE. 



SONG. 



She sat among the ruins old, 

She whose true heart in ruins lay ; 

The beads of memory she told, 
As waned the Summer day. 

Fair pinks and pansies at her feet 

Among the poisonous wild weeds grew ; 

The monk's-hood touched the mosses sweet. 
The cedar touched the yew. 

She told the beads, and Summer hours 
Tripped by, all glowing in the sun ; 

Smiles lit her tenrs; she saw the flowers 
That yet remained, alone. 

She told the beads, and oh I her tears 
Poured like the doleful, April rain ; 

The flowers died, weed-choked by years, 
And sorrow frowned a^raiu. 



LELIA LEE. 121 

She told the bead of mother-love, 
A golden bead with ebon strung ; 

An angel touched her, and a dove 
Waked in her heart, and sung. 



III. 

Every day a mute heart-hunger deepened in her 

patient eyes ; 
Slowly, slowly, day by day, her smiles and songs 

gave place to sighs. 

Heavier grew her chain of service, heavier with 

each month and year. 
Yet she drag'd its lengthening links nor blur'd her 

duty with a tear. 

Her distresses were not his, and ;^he was evermore 

alone. 
For her soul could not all shrivel to tiie nature of 

his own. 



122 LELIA LEE. 

'Twas her province, so the thought, to love, respect 

him, and obey. 
And with wifely tenderness to charm the cares of 

toil away: 

But his spirit ne'er responded to an art so delicate; 
Pitful ! herself she blamed because their house was 
desolate. 

Into the gulf that lay between them every tone of 

sympathy 
Fell and perished ; for them never kindred thoughts 

or joys could be. 

Even dullest routine duties sometimes bring the 

mind relief, 
And they brought her, for the moment, half forget- 

fulness of grief. 

It may be he thought her happy, for she did not 

make complaint ; 
Rude ears heed rude words, but not the suffering 

silence of the saint. 




Every day a mute heart-hunger deepened in her pa- 
tient eyes. 



LELIA LEE. 12.:) 

Minds that arc too far asunder, draw tlie hearts 
apart, as well ; 

Too great difference in nature makes true love im- 
possible. 

Marriage is the coalescing of warm spirits near 

akin ; 
Marriage other than soul- kinship, ne'er can be, nor 

e'er hath been. 

When two hearts, at love's fire melted, blend and 

mingle as they run. 
They are wed ; no hand can part them, God ha? 

made them ever one. 

Marriage is not where love is not ; when each love^, 

the other best 
They are wed, whate'er the bars that keep each 

from the other's breast. 

One iniss-marriage makes four widowed ; four a 

deep heart-hunger bear, 
Like a coffin in the heart, forever, though none see 

it there. 



]2fi LELIA LKE. 

Were it best to scorn such barriers? Oh ! I know 

not ; earth is part 
Only of love's life ; and heaven is mind to mind, 

and heart to heart. 

Held as sacred, or as nothinsr, they imprison right 
and weal ; 

When the hand is bound by law, the heart is fet- 
tered not to feel. 

Bind two lives that mingle not, and each the other 

will repel 
Till strained heart-strings snap asunder, and each 

birth-cry is a knell. 

Better were it to divorce them ; let each seek a fit- 
ter mate ; 

Better for the dear home altar, better for the 
church and state. 

God has made all things harmonious, like a master- 
piece of song ; 

All that jars is out of place ; discord is the birth- 
scream of wrong. 



LEi;iA LEE. 127 

If the heart-lyre breathe not love, the fault is in 

the oue who plays ; 
Break it not, for there are fiiigers that can wake its 

witching lays. 



And the fingers that from it but -discord woke, may 

find a lyre 
Which will tremble at their touch, and tlirob witli 

all of passi-en's fife- 



Love will ever lead aright, but it demands bliml, 

perfect trust; 
Those who heed it not shall hide their bleeding, 

stifled lips in diisL 



God in every labyrinth of life has laid an easy 

clue ; 
Friends are often false or foolish, but the heart is 

wise and true. 



12S LELIA LEE. 



IV. 

She is dead, — and it is be-st ! oh from a broken 

heart I sar 
Sad, strange words, but they are prompted by a 

love that lives alway. 

She is free! the cage is broken, the tormentor 

powerless ! 
Ah! the seraph's wings no more can droop and 

trail in wickedness ! 

When I saw her sinking, sinking, olden hours 
clung to me so 

That I faltered, but my spirit to her spirit whis- 
pered. Go ! 

Long her heart had fettered been, but now the 

chains of flesh were weak 
And she scorned them in her truth — defied them, 

and was strong to speak. 



LELIA LEE. 120 

It was never wed to him ! O do not deem her 

false that she 
Dreamt of girlhood's fresher days, and whispered in 

her sleep to me ! 

Like a slumbering child she lay, unmar'd by any 

mark of years; 
On her brow no line of care now, on her cheek no 

stain of tears. 

Like the medicinal herb that breathes its life away 

in bloom 
She, who daily died that they who crushed her 

heart might have perfume. 

Fair and fragile flower, whose weakness should 

have won the kindest care, 
Wounded, broken, yet exhaling fragrance while she 

perished there! 

When the powers of the body sleep, the soul is 

most awake ; 
In the days gone by she lived, and lips long 

guarded freely spake. 



180 LELIA LEE. 

Yes ; her mind was wandering-, and by the body 

trammel'd not ; 
Wandering! but conhl not strike from chords of 

clay its wondrous thought. 

Yet I knew she strayed among the roses of her 

brighter years, 
For she spoke of sacred dells, endeared by all that 

most endears. 

Hand in hand with olden days walked memory, and 

as a child 
Smiles when talking with good angels in its sleep^ 

she spake and smiled: 

Spake and smiled, th )ugh all unconscious; often 

murmuring my name: 
With a naked sword between us, her true heart 

was still the same. 

Sunshine smiled upon her soul, and Winter was no 

longer there ; 
Summer thoughts were in her heart, and Summer 

music in her ear. 



LELIA LEE. 131 

'Neath the sycamores and beeches ; by tlie rock and 
■\viIlo\v-tree, 

Strayed slie in tlie maddening moonlight, maiden- 
hearted, ligltt and free. 

Logs green-starred with moss; long, deAvy ferns; 

low murmuring, silvery rills; 
Opening buds; faint perfume wafted to the valleys 

from the hills 

Where unnumbered flowers blushed; the river with 

its laugh and song ; 
Faces, tones from other davs, that had been blurred 

by tears so long, 

Sparkling with ecstatic freshness, all came back ; 

and girlhood's heart 
Sparkled, too ; — 'but soon the light was darkened, 

and we saw her start; 

Heard her low, caressing voice, a sob in every ac- 
cent, plead ; 

Heard her say, " I cannot, cannot! T love him 
not; it will breed 



132 LELIA LEE. 

Only sorrow." And a tear stole from her slee{)ing 

lids, and fell 
Softly on the pillow, telling all the heart had hid 

too well. 

Slowly waked she from her slumber, and the 

humid eyes so oft 
Full of sympathy and smiles, and still with deep 

affection soft, 

Opened, wild and full of wonder; still her reason 

dwelt afar 
And its smile upon her fell as pale and faint as 

morning's star. 

But her mind came back and brought an angel that 

would take away 
Life, and all that was herself, to realms that rest in 

love alway. 

Lips that ever were so kindly, tender tones that al- 
ways were 

Full of hope for others, even when no hope re- 
mained for her, 



LELIA LEE. 133 

Made appeal. Oh, if unkind her words may seem, 
'twas not her heart 

But her eagerness that spoke, and wronged her na- 
ture's better part ! 

" Mother, I must leave you now ; I my child, too, 

leave behind; 
Mother, you were not to me, but for my sake to her 

be kind ! 

•' Mother ! take the little one ; around your heart 

her love will twine 
With a freshness warm and true, and tenderness 

almost divine. 

"She is his! and you should love her, — his to 

whom you gave my hand; 
Kindly treat my little one, for I have died at your 

command ! 

" Do not weep so wildly, mother ; I forgive your 

wrong to me 
If vou to the helpless orphan will a faithful mother 

be. 



134 LELIA LEE. 

*' Let me kiss my child !" — then failed the voice, 

and sunk the fainting head ; 
She so pale and quiet lay, we wept for her, and 

deemed her dead. 

Yet again she spoke : " My heart is weary, and it 

soon will rest : 
Bring ray little darling to me, lay her here upon 

my breast." 

Then a mystery of loveliness upon her stole, so 

bright, 
So refulgent, so celestial, that it awed, yet tranced 

our sight. 

O a curtain fell between, love-woven, and she was 

no more 
Of our number, though still with us ; dwellers on 

a happier shore 

Than her joyous childhood knew and loved, were 

her companions now ; 
Slowly, slowly led they her away, away from all 

below. 



LELIA LEE. 135 

Still her spirit spoke to us through the clear me- 
dium we knew, 

Wondrous things we could not know, that bloom 
beyond the borders blue. 

Angel's pinions brushed our robes ; we knew them 

near, but saw them not ; 
Hoodwinked by our clay we stood, but felt their 

beauty in our thought. 

Angels had sustained her living, dying, they were 

with her still. 
And with music heaven-born the air of earth was 

all athrill. 

Through the window the departing sun its brightest 

ribbon flung. 
And a solitary robin on the lilac perched and sung. 

From the purple West a ladder, alternating pink 

and gold 
In its rounds, of light, descended from a bright 

cloud's snowv fold. 



136 LELIA LEE. 

Soon the ladder was withdrawn, and she had gone, 

— we knew not when : 
Oh, what loneliness, what solemn sadness fell upon 

us then ! 

Death, what is it to be dead ? it is not, but it looks 

like sleep. 
And its sorrow is reflection-born ; we think before 

we weep. 

Little hands made soft to give caresses ; smiling 
lips, still red 

As when they gave kisses ; waxen cheeks, and nest- 
ling, curly head. 

Love-embosomed, O so often ! quiet, breathless 

breast, where lies, 
Oh so still, so numb, the faithful heart that lit the 

loving eyes; — 

Chained and changed, and to be laid away as of 

the earth a part, — 

This, oh, this iis death ! say, is it not, O universal 
heart? 



LELIA LEE. 137 

Gone from all she used to love, to brighter brooks 
and flowers above ! 

Gone, as slowly flies away the mateless, broken- 
hearted dove ! 

How the river misses her ! the birds and trees and 

flowers forlorn, 
Sigh for her from morn to night, and weep for her 

from night to morn. 

Gone ? Oh, say it not ! not gone — she only has 

come back to me ; 
Ah ! it is no crime to love now : she is free, forever 

free ! 



j^ LEIiTA LEE. 

30-N5G& 
Thou sleepest so quietly, Lelia, 

That 1 long for the bliss of thy rest; 
No wrongs can disquiet thy spirit, 

No hunger U^is hkJ: ia. tli.y breast:. 
Asleep, with the earth for thy cradle,. 

And rocked by felie foot of thy God! 
Since no stroke can haf ni- thee or wake thee, 

I snvile to- pass iwideF the rod. 

There were bars between us,, my darlings 

That only death oo<i-ld remove; 
There were bars between ib*, my darling,. 

But they could not hinder our love!. 
I refused to worship thy image^ 

But u€ ver could make it depart;. 
I luished my voiee into- silem_'e,. 

Bivt the eWor%^ it bro4ve m-y bearti 

But now I can speak,. O b^^Wved, 

The thoughts that b»ve burned to be told. 

For I kiK>w thou art mine as truly 
As in tlie dear days of oldl — 



LELTA LEE. I8i) 

Mine, by the right of devotion, 

The only right that's divine; — 
Oh, I bless the angel that touched thee 

And made thee free to be mine. 

Death parts some hearts, but others 

He leads together again; 
He has reunited us, darling. 

With ties untouched by a stain! 
Oh, strange is the courtship of spirits, 

But fascinatingly sweet: 
You sleep, and when I am dreaming, 

I feel that w-e often meet. 

I know thee when thou art near me, 

Although Itim blind as vet; 
I only feel, and can see Mot, 

I grope in the darkness and fret; 
But by and by I shall meet thee 

In a clearer atmosphere, 
And my eyes shall feast oh thy beauty 

Forevermore, my dear. 



140 LELIA LEE. 

I have waited !So long, my darliug^ 

I have waited so long fur thee. 
That I know, in the land of the angels. 

Thou wilt wait, still faithful to nie. 
O, the earth is so full of beauty 

That my soul is full of song; 
I shall claim thee, my bride, my beloved, 

I know I shall claim thee ere loner. 



V. 



Better is it to be dead, than to be dead and still 

live on: 
Cursed is the breath that breathes when every 

lively hope is gone ! 

Whe« the burial is over, well for thase who do not 

grieve 
Over words and deeds unkind, that no regret can 

e'er retrieve I 



LELIA LEE. 141 

O, the wrongs thou didst the dead within thy 
breaking heart shall live, 

And despair shall answer "Never," when repent- 
ance cries "^Forgivel" 

And an awful expectation of a horror yet to be 
Shall be ever present torture in thy soul, and 
madden thee! 

Thou shalt fear thy very shadow when it flickers 

on the wall ; 
In thy sleep colds hands shall grasp thee, deathly 

terror on thee fall. 

All thy prayers shall be frozen ere they bubble 

trom thy heart ; 
When thou dreamest God is near, at midnight shall 

thy sleep depart. 

Hold! I will not curse her more ; I almost pity, and 

alas ! 
Ere she left her daughter's grave the bitterest curse 

had come to pass. 



142 LELIA LEE. 

Ah ! her mind had gone away, retracing all the sad. 
long vears 

Back to bathe the graves of early hoi^es with una- 
vailing tears. 

Little hands caressed her forehead, but soft, rosy 

finger tips 
Could not soothe her care away ; and she was kissed, 

but velvet lips 

Could not thrill her shrunken heart. Even child- 
hood's tenderness could not 

Freshen with its morning dew the withered flowers 
of her thought. 

Hers that melancholy death of mind that dreamsr 

but does not rave; 
Quiet, silent e'er was she as one who weeps above 

a grave. 

When the spring returned with freshaess, flower*^ 

and fruit for all beside, 
She awaked not, but beheld it wondering, 

and vacant-eyed. 



LEI.TA T.EE. 



143 



Sw she slept life's troiil)le<l sleep, and dreamed away 

the lonely years 
In a nigljtniare horrihle, ',vhose only solace was its 

tears. 

Peter Phij)psvanie often to her, nut he l)roiigli-t ncn 

hope or eheer : 
T^ate remorse revealed a shadowed, shrouded spirit 

ever near. 

-And he told her how it tbilowed, like one in deep 

ajj^ony, 
Sio;hin<i\ grazing sadly on him witli dark eyes, re- 

jn'oaohfnlly, 

As had Lelin ln(d<('xl, when weary, ^hich that he 

had h)ng forgirt 
Xemesis raised with tho speeter now to jwison 

every tin Might. 

AVierd and grinning fanries bcekonful, leadirrg on 
with 'utiseless feet, 

Till at last he raved, half wHieious, in the mad- 
man's walled retreat. 



144 LELIA LEE. 

Lelia lives, though dead, the same ; in do way dif- 
ferent or strange ; 

Ignorance clothes death with terrors : it unchains, 
but does not change. 

Fancy is my love's avenger, awful as a desert 
grave ; 

His tormentors phantoms are, for he is super- 
stition's slave. 

Unto him no future beckons, o'er him darkness 

deep and black 
Hangs horrific, and no aogel e'er may roll its 

columns back. 

For the voice that could speak peace, is hushed 

forever, and mouldering low 
I^ies the heart that might have pitied, where the 

long, lush grasses grow. 

One star lights the dark for me, for by my side is 

Lelia's child. 
And she smiles upon me now as once her sainted 

mother smiled. 



LELTA LEE. 145 

Lelia's child shall be my child ; she hrs her mother's 

heart and eyes, 
And her image in my soul, as deep as is my 

nature, lies. 

She is to me as an angel to the lost and perish- 
ing ; 

She has filled my barren life with all the freshness 
of the spring. 

She is mine, and oh ! her mother some dear day 

shall be my own 
O'er the ocean, in those islands where no ties save 

love's are known. 

Angel hands for us will rear by some fair stream a 

happy home. 
O'er whose hearth the blighting shadow of our 

sorrows ne'er will come. 

FINIS. 



10 



Hi$ceIl£.neou5 Poein5. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 149 



LIGHT IN THE WEST. 

The eyes of the flowers areshimber-kissed, 

And the world is growing dusk ; 
The songs grow fainter while I list, 

And faint is the rose's musk : 
But see, my dear, far over the bilb 

There's a beautiful light in the west, 
Where, with flashing garlands upon their curls. 

The clouds sink into rest. 

When night's black tent shuts over the sun 

It opens to send the moon ; 
When the flowers are hid by the fringe of her robe, 

She points to the stars of June. 
No bud ever closed till another had blown, 

And the last may be the best ; 
Whon th^' east grows dark, there still is. lisrht. — 
A beautiful light iii the west. 



150 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Our joys flit by like a humming' bird, 

While sorrow comes to stay ; 
AVith throbbing brows and dim eyes blurred, 

We toiled in the hcfitt'of the day ; 
There is little reward, but, at eventide 

There is always an hour of rest, 
And we may wander, side by side 

In the soft, ealm light of the west. 

With yearning heai-ts we have Journoyed on 

Toward the Land of tiie Setting l^iin ; 
How oflon wt' thuuglit the goal won 

M'heii llie race had only be^un ! 
Deeelvod, heart- wcarv, we yet arose 

And liravcly or.svard pressed, 
For ju'st before iis we ^till eonld see 

Hope's beautiful light in the west. 

And wImu at la-^t wl' lav us down, 

Anl t\\ i m )uld Sin dl-s morL- thuu the uuhIc 

When voices are fain*^, aiid eye.x arc diniined 
III the doleful, dcuth.-day dusk, — 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 151 

O then, my dear, far over the hills. 
There will still be a light in the west, 

And, with fadeless garlands upon our lieads, 
We shall triumph and beat rest. 



WHEX SPRING-TIME COMES. 

With opening buds the budding bosom yearns 
For days of old, and olden love returns; 
Forgotten ^aoos rise to memory's sight. 
As flowers push their leaflets to the light, 
When spring-time comes. 

To meet its kiss, as lieuven earthward dips 
The singing world lifts up its fragrant lips ; 
AVe grasp at secrets, almost in our reach, 
And nature utters more than n^jrtal sp 'ooh, 
N\'hen spring-time comes. 

The birds make love; and, in t!ie gathering gloom, 
The listless maiden loiters by her houie, 
Xor ever thinks that hapj>y hour is late 
That fl -ets upon the kisses of hei' mate, 

When spi'ing-tiine comes. 



152 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Cold reason sleeps, but oh ! the heart awakes 
And heats with longing till it almost breaks; 
The cords of being thrill, acutely tense, 
And aspiration fires the spirit-sense, 
When spring-time comes. 

When spring-time comes! — Do not these hearts 

of ours 
Hold germs that then will burst in fadeless 

flowers 
Touched by warm love, the doors of earth will ope 
Anil all the race arise in hues of hoj)e, 

When spring-time comes. 



SONG. 



Linked f»r an hour with fite like mine, 

A shadow fell upon thee, 
And griefs, which never can be thine, 

For one brief moment won thee; 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 153 

But now thou see^t as others see, — 

The cloud from thee has lifted, 
But oh ! its blackness over me 
Will nevermore be rifted. 

The love that blesses while we weep 

Is driven away by laughter ; 
It goes, but leaves its foot-prints deep 

For heart-sears ever after. 
Farewell, and mingling with the gay, 

Forget our love and sorrow,; 
The kisses that were mine to-day, 

Give some one else to-morrow. 

Yet, sometimes, Bertha, when the sun 

Is hid by cloudy weather, 
And you weep absent joys alone, — 

Think how we wept together I 
And should you then regret the part 

Y<)u play while Iriends caress you, 
llemembpr, there is still a heart 

That onlv beats to bless vou. 



154 MISCELLAXEOUS POEMS. 

ACROSTIC. 

Could we but see, behind each cloud 
Love hides himself with smiling eyes ; 
And oh, the storm moc^t fierce imd louf) 
Urges us on to |>ar»clise. 
IK) not despair, then, come what mtty ; 
In all l>e l)ravc. stud trust in (hn]; 
Xe'er leave, whut/'er bef;*!!, the way; 
KiT po', but step where He has trod. 



TO WILDA. 

See; darliug, how the mists are curled. 
The golden tresses, from his brow. 

While happily the loving world 
Clas^ps heaven to his bosom now ! 

The thrush jxiuns from his cpiircring breast 

A silvern rill of melody, 
ISut song \n\s u-'vei- litilfexpressed 

The rapture of my love fur thee I 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 155 

How brightly dawns our wedding dav, 
Still sunnier as the honr draws near ; 

But oh I thy glances shame its rav , 
Their sparkling softness makes it dear. 

Thy hand in mine, I tear no ill, 

My gi'iefs, like chMids, are overpast ; 

]'or thy fair sake, may ea.-J! day still 

Add love and and luster to the last. 
JvuY 1, ]>-m. 



THE BKE HAS FOUND THE CLOVKR. 

The bee has found the eluver, 

Now winter's wind.s are past; 
Where tarries my true lover? 
M'ill h.- find me at hist? 
I'm. willing to be mated, — 
I'd yield tu Hurry's art ; 
Whore stays the dear one fated 
To give me lieart for heart ? 



to() MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 

The heart is warm in summer, 

And «lreams in wordless song ; 
Love is a welcome comer 

When eves are bright and long. — 
I'm willing to be mated, — 
I'd yield to Harry's art ; 
Where stays the dear one fated 
To give me heart for heart ? 

No rude eye should discover 
Love's soft, sweet secrecy, 
But the bee has found the clover ; 
Will my true love find me? 
I'^m willing to be mated, — 
I'd yield to Harry's art; 
Where stays the dear one fated 
To give me heart for heart"? 



MISCKLLAXEOT'S POKMS. 15« 

APRIL DAYS. 
The angel-dnys have come to v-ake 

The blossoms Avith n kiss ; 
Above the trees their tresses shake, — 

The CTirls of ^ romping miss. 

I hear them calling in the wood, 

And laughing in the -dell, 
As children play in merry mood:; 

And oh ! I love them well. 

Their mother, young and fair, will sing. 

Extending glowing arms. 

And they will climb the lap of Spring 

And wreathe her brow w'ith charms, 
Apkii., 1884. 

TO ADELEE. 
I die in rosy dreams of tfe-ee, 

Like a star in the light of morn ; 
1 die in a dream of Adelee, 

I die, and again ajii born; 
JBut nightly vigils are sweet, so sweety 
For then it is that oar spirits meeU 



160 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

I miss thee at the morning tide, 

I miss thee at noon and eve, 
My heart yearns for thee all the day. 

And all the night I grieve ; 
^Tis wait and long and long and wait, 
And to wait is to be disconsolate. 

I look upon the midnight sky 

And lo ! thy image is there ; 
I see thee, too, in every flower. 

Hear thee in the song-thrilled air : 
Each dale and dell, each song and tree 
Can tell me something of Adelce. 

I stroll the shore beneath the moon 

And watch the river weave. 
With silvery shuttle, the woof of life. 

And smile, and fondly believe 
Each golden thread in the ebony 

Is light thy love will bring to me. * 

* This poem Is reprinted liere because of its Incompleteness as It 
appears In "Fanny Fay and Other Poems." 



MISCELLANEOX-S POEMS. Kil 

WHEN OLD FRIENDS MEET. 

Tears light the faded eye, aud, quieken'd by such 

dew, 
Tho dust of withered ro.ses freshens into hloom ; 
The heart wakes in the past, and all tiie world is 

new. 

For the present sleeps and dreams in exquisite 

senii-glooni : 
Like autunjn'b ravishing sadness, that time, oh 

more than swc<t, 

\» htii old iriciids meet! 

O Myrtle kisses Croeus, and care-knit brows 

unbend, 
For burdens are laid by, and sandles cast aside; 
'Tis Indian summer time, to which all seasons tend; 
In the halls of long ago the bridegroom seeks his 

bride. 
And the Houri, ]vd by Bacchus, trip by on rythmic 

When old friends meet. 
11 



162 MISCELLAXEOUH POEMS. 

The soul has a Pallas-touch; the old grow young 

and strong; 
The heart of the weary warrior thrills again to its 

core, 
And the bow is bent, as of old, to right a giant 

wrong : — 
O Paris meets CEnone, and deep wounds pain no 

TOOTe, 

For hearts beat like the notes of a vesper anthem 
sweet. 

When old friends meet. 



TO- 



Though now by your foes overtaken. 
Soon the triumj)h of envy is past ; 

Believe me, you are not forsaken. 

Some hearts Avill be true till the last- 

The heart that I gave to you dearest 
Can never giow cold or forget, 



MIvSCELLANEOUS POEMS. 163 

For love that is love shines the clearest 
When the world's glaring favor has set, 

Though your deeds to the right are inimic, 

I will not believe them to be, 
For men condemn but to mimic, 

And, you have been faithful to me ! 



HER p:yes. 

O thine eyes, like those of angels, 

Upv«ard tisriH (1. inid full of love. 
Speak to me likf bright evangels 

From the better world above ; 
When I'm worn by life's mischances 

And my nerves and heart are sore, 
Nothing but those ardent glances 

Could the worth of life restore. 

What am I that thou should'st cherish 
Me, or brace me by thv trust ? — 

Every purple stream sliall j)erish 
And tile fount decay to dust. 



164 :MT.'^<ELL.^:XE()rS POEMS. 

But my spirit will remeniheM', 
And remembering-, will adore 

When the last star is an ember 
And the worlds rush on no more. 



ADA, 



Her cheek is soft as eider down, 

And smoothly |iinkas sea-shells are; 
Her hjng lashed eyes, so deeply brow n, 

A re" each as bright as any star : 
Among our lovely northern girls 

Fair Ada stands beyond compai'e ; 
She throws, from long and glossy curls 

A winged odor on the air. 

We, smiling, lireak the brittle gauze 
Of beauty, when it shines alone; 

Her goodness chains us when we pause 
To gaze, and noakes us all her own - 



MI8('ELLAXr:orS POEMS. 105 

When she is near the very streams 

Are brighter, nnJ the birds more irav ; 

The violet border nods and dreams 
Of her through all the summer day. 

She smiled, and many a jeweled hand 

Laid heart and treasure at her feet; 
But all their gold, and all tiieir land, 

Their titled names and n>anners sweet 
Were less to her than honest love 

And honest hoj)e of better days; 
Our rustic queen of mead and grove 

Bade tins<d suitors go their ways. 

But now our hearts are lone and sore ; 

For soon a humble stranger came 
And offered her, he had no more, 

A loyal heart and stainless name ; 
The pride of all our neighborhood 

Has gone to dieer a poor man's home. 
And to her heart, so leal and good, 

O mav no sorrow ever come. 



166 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Though prudes may laugh and fools deride, 

Oh it is better far to be 
A poor man's queen, than rich man's bride 

And pine in splendid misery ; 
A crust with lov^e to smile on it 

Is richer than a feast without; 
Love levels all, and he is fit 

For love, who loves too well to doubt. 



O IF WE SOUGHT FOR JOY. 

O if we sought for joy 

As we seek sorrow, 
And took the gifts of God 

And did not trouble borrow, 
'Twould be a happy world ; 

But all seek sadness : 
Self-torture pleases more 

Than what, we know of gladness. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 167 

STELLA. 

O iairest maid in all the world, 

What e'er tbv name may be, 
It should be Stella, for thou art 

The northern s^tar to me : — 
The northern star, — the star that guides 
Tiie lonely sailor o'er the tides. 

O maiden fair, where e'er thy home 

I know that it is l)riwht, 
For nothiner near thee could be dark 

While those dear eyes give light; 
Oh, if that smile to me were given, 
I'd dream nor a^k another heaven. 



A SISTER OF CHARITY. 

Tier heart is light, her eyes are bright, and she is 

good as fair, 
With fairy grace, and merry face, and step as light 

as air ; 



108 MrsCELLAXEOUS POEMS. 

But thoui>;h as gay as gladsome May, slie still can 

think and feel ; 
Where lives are sear, she drops a tear that sparkles 

into weal. 

Her sinless heart and guileless art are welcome 
everywhere ; 

She is not one life's joys to slum, nor lightly hold its 
care ; 

Her svmpathy is full and free for all of human- 
kind ; 

Her woman's wiles and generous smiles are blos- 
soms of her mind. 

She never bow'd with the rabble crowd that wor- 
ships the millionaire, 

But, in her eyes, the good are wise, and manhood 
beyond compare. 

With daily deeds !rhe fits the needs of many a heart 
and home ; 

Her charity blesses all she possesses, and she is 
white as foam. 



MISCELLAXEOT^S POEMS. 169 

She is only human, a connnou woman, not un_ 
womanly made by the world, 

Where foolish passion for wealth and fashion con- 
geals love's fountain impcarled ; — 

A sweet world-mother who feeds for another as joy- 
ing or sorrowing too; 

No idle dreamer or cunning sohemcr, but one who 
can feel and do. 



A NATION'S SIN, 

Thousands of unsusi>eeting countrj^ girls from 10 to 
14 3'^ears old are annually allured to ruin in this city 
alone. — X Y Paper ] 

A cry from the depths of the city 
A wail from the dens of despair; 

It smites through my ears to my heart, 
It follows me everywhere. 



MTSCKLLAXEOUS POEMS- 

In tlie meshes of human spiders 
They struggle, despair and die, 

The dear ones, so loved and cherishe*^ 
In dew-bright days gone by. 

Poor little wide-eyed fledgelings! 

They flutter in the snare 
All guileless, and trusting the spoilers 

With ehild-love, pure as prayer. 

From the fragrant, flowery meadow 
And the sweets of a rustic home, 

Betrayed into dens of darkness 
Where hope can never come ! 

The hand that should lie in mother^ 
Held fast in the grasp of lust ! 

God pity the poor, the helplcvSs, 
Who would not sin, but must. 

No more to follow the winding 
Of fresh green woody ways, 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 171 

Or drive the patient kine afield 
lu the cool of summer days; 

Kg more to meet with tlie children 

At school to study, or play ; 
No more to l)o\v with mother 

At even-fall, and pray ; 

No more the joyance of goodness, 

No more to be free from care, 
But laid on each tender heart 

Is the burden hardest to bear. 

The peals of innocent laughter 

That rippled among the hills, 
To the harlot's chr.cUle must harden 

Througii a thousand deadly ills. 

The innocent eyes of childhood, 

So earnest, deep and fair, 
That fall before rude glances, 

Must learn the shameless stare. 



1*2' MtSCELLAXEDUS POEMS. 

And the young heart, so pure, so buoyant 
Aforetime^,. in«st lervrn to find^.- 

A joyless, a sjwage joy 
In the ruia of its- kkid. 

'I'hrough a^ll the centuries ery 

The babies of TJethfehem ; 
Slit Herod left comfort behind him, — 

He only murdered them. 

tV'^e M'eep for the ravished Lucretia ;. 

But the princes of our time 
Could teach to Sextus Tarquinius 

The alphabet of crime. 

How long, O great Jehovah, 

How long will thy patience hold ?" 

Is the cup of thy wrath not full 
AVhen souls are bought and sold?" 

The cloud that veils fire in its boson-i 
I'oreshadows the stovm in glo«>m ;; 



lVnSCi:LLA:XEOUS POEMS. ITS 

'The time is at hand, and over the world 
Hangs <JaTkiiess, pregnant with doom. 

Woe, woe I For the sin of Sodom 

Demands a Sodom's woe, 
J\.nd the lightnings of God are heated 
'.To;iay!ihe destroyers low. 



O LET ME WANDER. 

"O let me wamler on the slvore 

In that blest hour when dav and niy;ht 
Meet with a soft earess of light, 
-And live, with thee, my whale lite o'ef; 
And feel, whatever eyes W€re bright 
Tu days go^ne by, I love thi«e wore. 

X(ike written lines we eannot see 

Till ht-at has tiirned the tracery black, 
The dnys of other years <}<>«ie back 
%Vhen love and thought meet warm in me:, 
^nd, that tile | nst no charm may la^k^ 
Twish to ecu it o'er wiih. thee. 



174 MISCELLANEOUS POEMb^ 



BENEATH THE WILLOW. 

Oh, there are times when all within 

Longs, deeply longs for days of old ;; 
We lose, in thoughts of what has been^ 

The present's raptures manifold. 
W^hen maiden nature wakes to song 

And youth smiles fresh on hill aaid shore. 
Then half-forgotten love grows strong 

For those who wake, oh, nevermore I 

Where deep the weeping willow dips- 
Its slender sprays into the stream 

That kisses them, with trembling lips. 
And idles by as in a dream; 

There lies a maiden, fast asleep^ 

With lily hands t-rosscd on her breast : 

And oft I go^ and i(oin,u' wecj)^ 

Through dreunilaud ty her plaec of rvst. 



^Twas when the mourning evening threw 

Her widow's v<-il athwart the skies, 
And flowers and grass were wot with dew., 

il Imgerod last by where she lies. — 
Tar in the west the parting day 

Throbbed, till it died inecRtaey, 
And all the spirit of the May, 

So elfin- sad, enveloped me. 

'To-day I yearn, half weeping, yearn 

"To seek again that sorrowing tree ; 
IVEy thoughts, like compass-needles, turn 

To her4ooe grave, where'er I be. 
O nothing ever wholly dies 

Which heart or head has dearly known-.; 
^Vithin my heart still beam those eyes 

That years with grass has over ^rowu. 



176 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



fan:sy. 

1 he rock was tringed with fcnis and vinos^ 

'A little cave beneath it, 
And the soft breeze that wantoned there^ 

It was a joy to breathe it ; 
A little brook ran laughing through 

A vale that stretched before me. 
And many a happy bird and bee 

Sang in the branches o'er me : 
Flowers strewed the ground as thick as stars' 

But fairer far than any 
The rose that blu.shed upon my breast^ 

My peerless^ pretty Fanny. 

In school-boy days that cave was home^ 
And she, my wee wife, blessed it; 

What shy, arch love was in each heart, 
If either could have guessed it! 

Long years have passed since then, but each 
Whispered the dear old story } 



MLSCELLAXEOrS POEMS. 177 

A halo sparkles round our hearts 
And lights each day with glory ; — 

As children in our mimic home 
The happy days were many ; 

But added years are added bliss, 
For I'm to marry Fanny. 



I PLEDGE XOT LOVE TILL DEATH. 

I pledge not love till death, 

Nor aslv such pledge of you, 
If bounded by a breath 

Love never could be true ! 
I'd rather miss your hand 

While darkly groping here, 
Than be lonely in the land 

That should not know a tear. 

To change were not to be, — 

Identity must live ; 

I pledge eternally 

The leal heart that I give ! 
12 



ITS MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Love loves iu earth or heaven 
Bat one ; and God is love ; 

So heart from heart will not be riven 
By the laws obeyed above. 



A KISS. 



A maiden sat by a brooklet 

And sang a happy song, 
Which, like the sparkling water, 

Flowed and rippled along. 
And, looking over her shoulder, 

I saw her form expressed 
Among the reflected flowers 

That lay in the brooklet's breast 

'Twas evening ; the floor of heaven 
Had blushed beneath the tread 

Of angels of mercy, watching 
The earth from overhead ; 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

The flowers on the shore were touching, 
My heart can see them yet, — 

The ripples went by atrembk, — 
Fond h'ps 'neath the water met ! 



AFTERGLOW. 

E'en as the ni^ht 
AVith stars is blest. 

Thy eyes shall brightly 
Tllimio my breast ; 

And, however dark 
]My heart may be. 

It still will sparkle 
With dreams of thee I 

For, as diamonds hold 
The light of the sun. 

And still gleam golden 
When day is done. 

So my heart is 
To thy smiles a gem, 



i8@ MISCELLANEOriS POEMS. 

And, phosphorescent, 
It sparkles with them. 

In a golden dream, 

When we'er parted, dear; 
So, in sweetest seeming, 
You sre always near. 
Dec, 185o. 



A STAR BURNED OUT, 

The misty light of a million stars 

Is rained upon the world ; 
The tender leaves of the Cistus flower 

In their scented cup are curled : 

Rest claims the solemn forest dells, 

And every tree -and vine ; 
All living things have gone to sleep 

Except this heart of mine. 

H'us'hed is the lowing of the kine, 
The birds in their Jiests are still ; 



:\nSCELLAXEOUS POEMS. 181 

Night's somber queen can calm a world, 
But not the human will ! 

My tearful glance is chained to-night 
On the Sisters who weep and wait^ 

For my sad heart has lost a star, 
And I share the Pleiads' fate. 



AURORA IN A PURPLE MIST. 

Aurora in a i)urj)le mist 

Arises from the eastern sea; 
The globes of dew are Iris kissed 

And song enchants each radiant tree; 

"With graceful ankles all so white 
They shame the snowy petticoats, 

And rosy cheeks, and eyes all light, 
The milkmaids seek the pasture lots. 

Shy chipmunks glide along the rails, 
The linnet and brown thrush are gay; 

From copse and bramble call the quails, 
Aad raoekbirds hail the jocund day. 



182 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Blithe girlish voices, raised in song, 
Flow in far echoes 'mong the hills ; 

It is as if the world grew young. 
And would forget all human ills, 

The boys go whistling forth to feed 
Affectionate, dependent stock ; 

About their feet, with eager greed, 
The fowls in expectation flock. 

Following their old patriarch, 

The sheep throng to their troughs of grain; 
By his masters side, with joyous bark, 

The watch-dog frolics down the lane. 

Each girl returns with brimming pail. 
The farmer drives his team afield, 

And yonder wind-mill lifts its sail 
Like a crusader's snowy shield. 

And peace and love shall guard the farm ; 

Its virtuous women, honest men 
Lift for the right a giant's arm, 

And half win Eden back again. 



MISCELLAXEOUS POEMS. 185 



REGRET— A MEDLEY. 

Sometimes will rise a specter of regret 

From out the deep abyss of oilier years, 
And steal, like shadoAvs when the sun is set, 

Slow through the heart, while sad dew drops 
in tears ; 
We search our minds sometimes for little prints 

Of feet that rest from all their wanderings now. 
And kiss the flowery, faded wreathe that hints 

Of summer rambles when the sun was low, — 
It is the recollection that the sprays 

Have of their scattered roses; — that the leas 
Retain, in winter, of their summer days, — 

An influence as soft as sleeping tropic seas. 

I wonder, while I watch that rosy sky 

Where golden domes and spires are seen to 

stand 
As if the city of the better land 

Were half revealed to mortal wish and eye, 



184 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

If, far back in that purple cloud of mist 
But near the sparkling gate of amethyst, 

She, idol of the dear, fleet days gone by, 

Stands, dreaming purer dreams, but still like 

mine ? 
l^or love makes life on earth almost divine, 

And heaven will be too holy for our race 
If in it the dear smile, beloved bo much, 
The gentle voice, the hand of tender touch, 

Be but a m^uDry, and find no part nor place. 



She can behold, from her high station there. 
Her home among the trees j and on the hill 
The church ; the lanes, the pathway by the rill, 

And all the groves and grots we thought so fair. 
But I, removed from every early scene. 
See only, in my heart, the churchyard green. 

That rises like Saul's vision of despair ! 
It is a comfort, when the little spark 
We trusted, vanishes and leaves all dark. 

To think, somehow, in the deep, solemn night 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 1S5 

A whisper from the earth can reach it yet, 
And tell its love and all its fond regret 
Until its fault is pardoned, and all wrongs made 
right. 

*The sorrow of my sorrow is to know 

That my last word to her was rudely spoke, 
For I am tortured lest her true heart broke 

Beneath tiie anguish of so iiide a blow. 

How could she know, dear girl, that slander- 
ous tongues 
Were the fell instrument of all our wrongs ? 

Truth oft comes late, and following her is woe ! 
Alas ! one little word can touch the heart 
With shadows that may lift, but ne'er depart. 

And make the dearest retrospection pain : 
For years we watch our demon, then an hour 
We sleep, and wake a victim of its power, 

And feel forever on the heart its mark and 
chain I 

Could I but meet her in the shady laue 

Where we have wandered in the days gone by, 



6^ JirSCEEEAlS^EOTJS POE^rS. 

She would forgive me, and with pitying eye- 
Drop tears of balm upon the wounds that pain ;: 
She then would know, that, in the heart of 

youth. 
Brighter than all things else glo\y love- ands' 
truth : 
Yes ; ske wauld p»rdoa eouldwe mcset again. 
O could I rise to where those clouds are curled" 
Above the gate-way of the other world, 
There would I seek her, there would, plead my 
cause ! — 
Would ask, were more forbidden,, to forget ; 
There is a gravitation in regret 
That holds me ever;, woe is mightier than alE 
laws, 

'Tis not by- ho|)c, but doubt, the soul is drivei-fc 
Back on itself to sorrow or despair j 
Is it too much to hope that they still care, 

Who cared for us of old, even in heaven ? 

May they not bow sometimes from near the' 
thTOttie 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 187 

Until our yearning spirits touch their own 
And feel, though parted, we are still not riven? 
Sometimes on eves like this I feel 'tis so, 
And half forget ray self-reproachful woe ; 
However it may be^ all that is good 

Within me wakes to life e'en as I think, 

And I am rendered stronger, for I drink 

Of spirit-fouatsthat render life half understood. 



Across yon brook the happy children play 
And laughingly lookback through wreathes of 
flowers, 

Ne'er hid for long, though they be gone for 
hours, 

Xor ever lost to us, iwr far away ; 

May not the dead be even like to these ? 
Heaven is not far, thoagh there be mysteries 
To stop our ears and blind us to its ray : 

Let those whose pulses bound, whose hearts are 
fire, 

To distant heights of perfect truth aspire ; 



1S8 MISCELLAXEOUS POEMS-. 

Faint with long toil, etjt last each luimbled? 
breast 
Will say, I anr too weary now todimb, 
The goai I sought was near me alfthe time ;- 

Mady smiling, then in>peace mlL enter iMo rest^ 



THOUGH THOT SOFT TOUCIT.. 

Though that soft touch £ love so much- 

Another^s harrd should daira, 
Through all the yeai's, dear of the dears^ 

My love would be the same. 
For a' heart to change, an- eye to range,, 

Were never, never mine ; 
The plighted' vow I give thee now 

Is ever, ever thiree. 

Through weal and woe my love shall go^. 

But alwarv's follow thee, 
XTnwaVering still in good or ill, 

Tho-tigh all the world should flee. 



:\nSCTELLAXEOUS POEM.S. 13f 

"JDarts aimed at thee must first strike me, 

And I <!efy dull care 
'To. find a rest within my breast 

Whilst tho« art smiling there. 
^-O by thy side Miy bonny bride 

My spirit cVr hath l>ee\i - 
ll see thy smiles through all the miles, 

They part not. though between : 
"^Vhen sluniber lies upon tliy eye?, 

The bri^hest ever see-y, 
Then dreatn-^ofinic, for shall I be 
'Close by; thy cot serene. 



LONGING. 

l\£y heart is not at home to-day. 
If that home be my breast ; 

Ht leaves behind, when far away 
The sha<iow-fieml, unFest, 



190 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

I deeply long to climb the hills 
I loved in childhood's hours; 

I thirst to taste the cooling rills 
And kiss the tlie ol'd-time floAvers- 

Upon' those slopes the squirrels play^ 
Gay biiTJs, aud CTcatures wild ; 

And there we wandered many a day^ 
I, and a blue-eyed child. 

Oh, life is only onee in bloonij 
A May time,, wildly glad ; 

My heart to-day is at her tomb,. 
And I am strangely sad. 



"WE HAD BUT AX HOUR. 

We h&d but an hoar to say farewell^ 
For sorrow had come to bid me go ;; 

And when fate tolls the solemn bell 
Our hopes to bury^ it must be so. 



^riSCELL ANEOrS POEMS. im 

Tlie porch was acrecned from the moon's 
mild rsy 
By the robes of many a rustling Tine, 
-jA-nd the s-hiftlng shadows that round us lay 
Will never lift from thisjnind of Jiiine, 



The past couTd speak of many a night 

Whose black fold bound as heart to heart 
-Until a hint of morning light 

Awaked the birds, and bade us part. 
The eyes of each shed happy tears 

Ofttimes, in very excess of love ; 
'How soft our dream was of the years 

Thro' which our wedded souls should move ! 



How^ time and chaiige endear the hours 
That twinkled by on tireless wings ! 

We prized them not Avhen they were our, 
But longing 1-oves e'en little things. 



192 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 

Each tender tone^ then meaningless 

Or little noted 'mid so much, 
My heart holds now like flo-wers in pressF, 

And sacred as a spirit's toueh. 

WiB had but an hour tO' say good-bye,. 

But in that hour the past all died, 
Though for its glories our hearts must cry 

And love and sorrow ever abide. 
Oh^ I was filled with a shadowy dread^. 

And pain I but faintly realized ; 
But in that hour from which hope fled 

The heart I lost was doubly prized.. 



ESSIE^S GRAVE, 

Hashed be the hollow laugh _,. for beneath this greeo 

turf lies 
The wonderfnl wealth of her hair^, the beautifuB 

blue of her eyes :- 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 193 

And mouldering here is the heart that was always 

so true to me, 
And the ruby lips that smiled though the world 

might frowning be. 

Some bring forgetfulness here, but I cannot laugh 
at the tomb. 

Or merrily read these legends half hidden by 
tangled bloom; 

Sacred to me is the spot where Essie and innocense 
sleep, 

Her grave tells the truth to my heart, and I can- 
not forbear to weep. 

How soon we will all be dust, and those beneath 

the gronnd 
Whose voices over the graves in careless laughter 

sound ! 
With matted myrtles in summer, and in the winter 

snow 
All trodden above us in mirth as the mocking 

seasons go. 
13 



194 MISCELLANEOrS POEMS. 

Laugh ? — Why tTie criminal laughs while the heads 
of his fellows roll, 

Laughs as he waits for death! — It is true of the 
race a« a whole : — 

Where the trophies of death lie thickest the thought- 
less laugh ill his face; 

On, on, for the time is not yet, — M'hen it comes we 
will yield our place. 

Instead of under my feet, wert thou by my side 

to-day. 
Perhaps I could think like others, and my heart 

like others be gay ; 
But, eloquent in the dust, those lips that my owa 

have pressed 
Proclaim life only a race for some hidden prize, at; 

best. 

How many of those I sec we could better have 

spared than thou ! 
Thy learning, thy love, thy goodness, what are 
they to any now ? 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 195 

How many who never have known one fresh or 

generous thought 
Are sought in the weary world where thou art 

almost forgot. 

Just when we are ready to live, when a score or 

two of years 
Have given us wisdom and wealth, and taught us 

to bear life's cares ; 
When children are grown, and the world seems 

brighter than ever before, 
We die ! —Does it matter then that thy years ne'er 

reached a score ? 

There's a purpose in all, perhaps ; but if there be, 

what then ? 
For it is ignored or forgot in the fickle pursuits of 

men ;— 
In the domain of death we are met, but who thinks 

of it here? 
I, too, would forget, perchance, wore not one of the 

sleepers so dear. 



196 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Hushed be the hollow laugh, for it jars ou my soul 

to-day, — 
Fair Essie is mouldering here, and her heart is a 

clod in the clay. 
I look on these little mounds, and my thoughts are 

sad and deep ; 
Her grave tells the trutli to my heart, and I cannot 

forbear to weep. 



WITH LOVE WE'LL SPEED. 

With love we'll speed the hours aAvay, 
And will not part till break of day. 
Sweetheart, sweetheart. 

Last night we saw the sun go down, 
And we will see him rise, my own. 
My darling little sweetheart. 

The birds that sang so sweetly then 
Will soon as sweetly sing again. 
Sweetheart, sweetheart: 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 197 

So, let our spirits sparkle o'er 
With mad love-blisses, more, dear more. 
Than all the world to me. 

O when your witching smiles, my dear. 
Mix warmly with my blood, they cheer 
My soul like melody. 

1883. 



BEHIND THE CLOUDS. 

Behind the clouds the weary day 
Has thrown her smoking torch, 

The storm, long marshalling far away. 
Begins its threatening march. 

Oh, cold and long the way will be, 
And fast the snow and sharp sleet fall. 

But Maud will warmly welcome me. 
One kiss from her will pay for all. 



198 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

After the long and lonely ride, 

More cosy it will be 
When she shall nestle at my side, 

And archly smile on me. 

The happy hours, through all the night, 
Shall trip us by on velvet feet. 

And our snug fire, so warm and bright, 
Will smile at winter's snow and sleet. 



ALBUM VERSES. 

When in fair hands of youth you hold 
Tlie sceptered Aulumn's rod of gold. 

Remember 'twas our emblem, too. 
Forgot not one who thinks of you. 

O thou hast added to one liower 

A wealth of thonglit, a winning power; 

Whene'er its starry sprays I see, 

llow could I help remembering thee. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



ll)!-> 




MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 201 



THROUGH ALL THE SUMMER. 

Through all the summer long and sweet 

We loved with love that deathless seemed, 
And many a moony night we'd meet 

Where nodding roses dreamed: 
We knew each ferny grot and grove 

Anear her rustic, cottage homo; 
Eich other's cares fell on our love 

As light as floating foam. 

No robin sings on any bough 

The trees are leafless, white and stark ; 
The bravest flower blooms not now. 

The nights are cold and dark: 
Forsaken is the lonely wood, 

And dull and desolate the lea ; 
My heart, too, pines in solitude. 

She has forsaken me ! 



202 MISCEULiANEOUS POEMS.. 

O HASTEN, ROSEBUD. 

hasten, rosebud, open wide 
Your glowing bosom to the sun^ 

That I may hasten to the side 

Of my own darling one ! 
How bright your nectar'd leaves will be 
When lips, as fresh, shall welcome me V. 

1 said I'd meet her when the bloom 
Of roses makes the evening glad ;, 

And when the air^^ rich with perfume 
Makes all the wild bees mad, 
My heart shall drunk with rapture be,. 
For rosy Ups will welcome me. 



IN DAYS THAT ATIE DEAD-. 

In days that are dead^ and buried 
'Neath the ruins ot my love, 

In days that were bright and varieil 
As summer clouds above,. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 203 

I knew a beautiful maiden, 

Shy Gertie with golden hair, 
And my heart with honey was laden, 

For she was good as fair. 

How happy every even, 

For then I was near to her ; 
Her cottage home was my heaven. 

For I was her worshipper. 
I had no sister or mother, 

In the world I was all alone ; 
I never had loved another, 

And my heart was all her own. 

Through all the mild spring weather 

What a happy existence was ours ; 
For hours and hours together 

We strolled among the flowers, — 
Among the terns and flowers 

In the song-enchanted grove ; 
Warm sunlight tilled the bowers, 

And our hearts were full of love. 



204 MISCKLLANEOUS POEMS„ 

But she was an Irish maiden, 

And I was an Irish boy ; 
That land, that once was Eden, 

Must not now hope for joy. 
The tear to my hot eye gathers 

As free and far I roam, — 
She toils, in the home of her fathers^ 

For the lord wlio stole that liomj&« 



MISCELLANEOUS POEM8, 205 




EDITH. 

So sweet and so dutiful, 
■So neat and so heai.tiful 

Is Edith that all of us love her; 
I like to hear her sing 
As she sways in the orchard swing 

With the blossoms and birds above her; — 

It cheers all heart weariness, 
Vain tears and life's dreariness; 

Her childish happiness blesses ^ 
So good, so kind she is 
I know a child like this 

Receivfil the Savior's caresses. 



206 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



THE BACHELOR. 

He works among his trees 
And humming hives of bees. 

And does not seem alone ; 
Yet sad has been his lot, 
No wife nor child, and not 
One face to cheer his cot 

Nor smile at his hearth-stone. 

Time wove his wreath, and now 
White roses bind his brow. 

For he is stooped and old; 
Sometimes, they say, he talks 
To the shrubbery by his walks, 
And to his clustering flocks; — 

And then, too, I am told, 

When summer nights are still. 
In the grave-yard on the hill 
Alone he weeps for hours; 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. !i07 

And always in fairTVIay 
3Ie passes there a day, 
J^nd when he goes away 

One grave is strown with 'flowers. 

The name upon the stone 
"^Vith moss is overgrown, 

And the grave is sunken deep, 
liove must, love "will abide! 
'She never was his bride, 
But he walks by her side 

Perhaps, when others sleep. 

To cheer that doleful home, 
What smiling guests may come 

From days long, long gone b^! 
In every lot there is 
'Some dear, peculiar bliss 
All, all its own, and this 
Lights hope in every eye. 

Long years has he been true! 
cHis courtship has worn through 



208 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

A lifetime's toil and care: 
But the wedding day will be 
Ere long, for soon must he 
Lie by her here, and flee 

To clasp his girl-wife there. 



SONG. 



The cocks are crowing, dear, the purple morn is 

near. 

But it is cold without, I cannot leave you yet; 

In spite of driving suow, 'tis warm and cheery 

here. 

So come, before I go, one more embrace, my pet. 

My fond heart saw your home, and the miles were 

short to come, 
But when I leave your side they wHl be long 

to go; 
Come, nestle in my arms and let me view the 

charms 



T>nSCEI.LA:NEOXTS FOElsrS. 20S 

That give me Summer's s(^il to bear througla 
Winter's snow. 

The east is faintly gray, I know 'tis almost day, 
But night is not the time for anyone to ride- 
So, one more kiss, my sweet, before I go away,— 
Soon, soon I'll come again 4ind make you my 
own bride. 



SOXG. 



INIy Mary »kips across the green. 

Her straAvhat gaily swinging; 
She's happy as the spring birds are, 

And ah ! how sweetly singing. 
Her feet, like lilies dipped in (\e\v^ 

Flash in the sun ofniorning; 
A country girl, an honest girl, 

Of nature's own adorning. 

Sler beauty has bewitched my heart. 
Hours pass like raptured trances, 



210 IVnSCKLLAXKOUS poE^rs-, 

And oh ! sometimes I think I see 
Love answer in l»er glances. 

A soft light in her eye anJ cheek 
Sieemed tO' ii>vite niie to her, — 

When first we met I knew my fate- 
Was to adore and \\o& her. 

I know where flowers profusely grow 

Deep in a cool rock's shadow; 
What harm if [ slwuld follow her 

Across the blooming meadow? 
I love the green^ o^'er-arehing trees^ 

The rock and starry mosses, 
And by her side I could forget 

All heart-aehes and all losses^ 

The dandelion and meadow-rue 
She plucks, and Iragrant clover, 

And little thinks each movement watched 
By fond eyes of her lover. 

She's graceful as long willow wands, 
Or as a fragile vine; 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 211 

I'll follow her across the mead 
And ask her to be mine. 



TO ^YILDA. 

O, like a glimpse of freshening leaves and flowers 

When May breathes softly over all the land, 
Are memories of long-gone, golden hours 

When first, my dear, we loitered hand in hand 
Through shady groves and long, hedge-bordered 
lanes, 

Lost in a dream of first and deathless love! 
Each day affection some new beauty gains. 

As each spring day adds something to the 
grove,— 
But who forgets, amid the summer's wealth, 

The rapt surprises of first opening buds? — 
When young love comes, so timid, half by stealth 

Like shy birds fiitting in deep solitudes. 

My heart lay slumbering, — like a lily bud 

Hid in the bulb, and deep in earth, and dark, — 



212 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Until your smile thrilled all my stagnant bloody 

And waked to life and bloom the vital spark. 
I hold your hand, and, to the present bliss 

Fond fancy adds all raptures that have been; 
I press your lips, and the same instant kiss 

Your laughing eyes in Oxford's by-ways green. 
I grudge time every hour he steals away. 

Though each he gives be sweeter than the last* 
Love finds a thousand pleasures in a day. 
Weeps when it passes, but reveres it pa.'rt. 



WHO ASKED. 

The pine-trees, snowed with lily flower.-? 
Of frail frost texture, made an arch 
O'er marble steps up to the porch; 

In each light wind fine snow in showers 
Fell on us, but we lingering stood, 
Thewine of love mixed with our blood 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 213 

A moment held two destinies, 

And I was poor and dared not speak; 
Love blinds self- worth, and makes hope weak: 

To-morrow I would cross the seas. 
Despair would be my bride, and fate 
The priest, — his chant, "Too late, too late!'^ 

*'There is a. secret I could tell, 

Which, if you knew, ycu need not go;" 
Only a whisper, soft and low. 

And then into my arms she fell. 

And warm lips murmured, close my car, 
''You can not say I asked you, dear." 



LAURA. 

Like a flower in a fierce sun-heat 
She withered where she lay, 



214 MISCELLAXEOrS POEMS- 

And her wild pulses hotly boat 
Like a throbbing mirage ray; 
"White chariots are near," she said 
"To bear me hence when I am dead.''" 

Her face Avas glorified, and shone 

AVith light, unearthly fair; 
She talked of heaven, and heaven aloney 

As though, already there; 
And from the shade of death, her hand 
She raisetl to beck vis to that land. 

We watched her dying, and our tears 
Flowed fast as those of Niobe; 

But, when the ship the home port nears^ 
What heart throbs with regret, at sea?' 

T^was bliss for her tliat wrought our woe^,: 

"Farewelll" we said, "Bright spirit, go!." 



OXFORD'S HILLS. 

I love old Oxford's gras.sy hill?>., 
And valleys flowery fair;. 



Mr8CELLA:NE0('S POEMS. 21 

1 think of them, iiiv warm heart fills, 
I won fair Ada therel 

Where'er my darling's feet have straved 

To me is holy ground; 
I rear my altar where she played 

And strew red roses round. 

The white foam on the silver rills 

Is like her dimpled cheek; 
The voice of birds the orchard fills, 

T think I hear her speak. 

I hear her footstep when the leaves 

In the light breezes stir; 
About each scene tliere«losely cleaves 

A memory of her. 

Ijovc ne'er forgets its voutliful hairnts 

However far it roam; 
Sometimes for them the fond heart pants, 

As exiles yearn for home. 

I love old Oxford's grassy hills, 

And oft they win me back 
To stroll the banks of purling rills, 

And tread each well-known track. 



216 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS- 

DANDELIONS. 

Bright dandelioLus on the green, 

Like stars that gleam up in the blue^ 

First of the meadow flowers, are seen 
While 3'et chill nights congeal the dew. 

While little bloom is in the woods 

To. cheer or soothe the changing year,. 

They,, when- the elm and maple buds 
Are oped, and. blue-birds sing, appear^ 

They smile upon us ere the peach 
Or cherry whitens on the hill. 

And linger long; through summer reach. 
Their chains of gold, untarnished stilL 

Some wisely nod their silver heads 
While others brighten at their feet;, 

PooE common people of the meads 

Are they, but with good-cheer replete^ 

Both medicine and food, these plants, 
That thankless smile in every place^ 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 21T 

Help to supply the fanner's wants 
And case the ailments of our race. 

Since smiling child-faith clothed its age 
For nic with half-prophetic power, 

I read a lesson, sad but sage, 

In this neglected meadow flower. 



AFTER THE PARTY. 

The merry, thoughtless crowd is gone,. 
And, darling, at last we are left alone; 
Come, lift your lips to mine, and rest 
Your weary head upon my breast. 
For I would read the love that lies 
Deep in those sparkling hazel eyes. 

All day I have grudged the company 
The hour they stole from you and me; 
The founts of my joy are your eye and lip. 



218 MISCELLANEOrS POEMS, 

With only you is companionship; 

A (juict \\n\w is now our own 

Now that the gossiping crowd is gone. 

We pay fond debts to society 

Tiiat we never owed, and it Mcaries me^ 

Men meet to mask, not bare the heart, 

And policy makes tlieir friendsliij) art; 

It is peace when I turn from the false to the 

true, 
i. forget th<! worhl when alooe with you. 



To A— 



When tender breezes whisper soft, 

And countless blooms light grove and lea, 

Say, darling, will your heart not oft 
Return to days yon sped for rae? 

Think, think before you bid me go 

How true our Jove Ims been, and dear; 



MISCELLAXEOr.S POEMS. 219 

You well might spare this hasty blow, 
For '^perfiot love will cast out foar." 



When conio the j)loasant days of June 

Whose roses were to sec us one, 
Will not each rapturous scene attune 

Your thoughts to melody that's gone? 
'Tis true my life and lips are stained 

With wrong and Avine, and I have borne 
What few could bear; — but should my jjained 

Crushed heart by such fair hands be torn? 



Yet, if life holds a single ill 

Could blight your love, or if there be 
In your heart change, to part is well; 

For fate, with anguish, waits on me. 
Flee, if at all, in that still hour 

Ere thic storm break, — flee now or never! 
Each moment stronger grows the power 

That keeps yon, and would keep forever. 



220 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

But if your soul is strong to bear 

For love, the shock, the pang of life, 
And meet, unwavering, joy or care, 

Then arc you fitted for a wife; — 
Come to my arms, for we could rear 

On shattered hopes a happy home!^- 
But weaker love is insincere, 

As light, as false as wind-tossed foam. 
1885. 



O ROSE-TREE BY THE RIVER. 

O rose-tree by the river, 

With spicy wind-blown bough 
On which fresh flowers quiver. 

Dost thou remember now 
Last summer's wealth of blossoms? 

Thy fragrance whispers. Yes: 
And, like bird-songs, embosoms 

A faint, strange pensivcness. 



miscp:llaneou.s poems. 221 

O fond heart with tliy k)ver, 

Dost thiiii rciiu'iiihcr now 
T!ie days that have ija.ssed over? 

The h)ve of long ago? 
Tlie Jivinu and the dead? 

And all thy soul says, "Yes; 
They have not wholly fled:" 

And thy love is hardly less. 



TO RUTH. 

O, the hours that have been are too bright to 

forget; 
]'rom afar Ihcy cast o'er us a loveliness yet, 
As the sun gilds the hills when we say it has set. 

Sometimes I am moved to return to thee, Ruth, 
As instinct moves birds to seek the fair South, 
As age is moved to remember its youth. 

My bosom grows warm at the sound ofthv voice, 
As the hearts of old veterans burn at the noise 



222 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Ot drums and shrill bugles that led thoni when 
boys. 

I think of the fields where you played as a child, 
When first your dark beauty my spirit beguiled, 
And your glance throiigli my soul like a strange 
rapture thrilled. 

AVe long have been parted, and never may meet, 

For other adorers are low at your feet; — 

Does regret never render their praises less sweet? 

No love is like that, which from infancy on 
Follows, true to the last, in shadow and sun; — 
From you is the light of its presence all gone? 

There are sweet-brier, and myrtle, and locust's 

raceme. 
And moonlight smiles still on the path by the 

stream; — 
Does sleep never lead you there now, when you 

dream? 



MISCELLAXEOUS POEMS. 22;^ 

Though lips may he false, the heart is all truth. 
And treasures forever the gold of its youth; 
You still have your hand on my destiny, Rvith. 



SWINGING. 

Her ruffled petticoats are blown 

Into a snowy flower; her feet 
And dainty ankles stamens are^ 

Revealed as by they fleet. 
Her round and rosy arms are bare, 

Her eyes, so dark, are fidl of light; 
And she is happy as a thought 
Of song in its lirst flight. 

Her loosened tresses float like clouds; 

Her graceful limbs are closely pressed 
Until in sculptured lines appear 
Her form and budding breast. 



22i MI.SCELLANEUUS POEMS. 

She's like a bird that sings at morn 

(Tptnia h)ngaiul leafy sprays 
The very.-^i^ht of her wouhl ehariu 
A cynic's frown away. 

Yet 'tis pathetic but to see 

Such hours, because we know they lly; 
Whate'er they hold, whale'er their hope. 

How soon they all pass by! 
Alas that toil and sorrow set 

At last, and soon, their seal on all. 
And even on such hearts as hers 
Long lingering shadows fall. 



UPON THE GREEN. 

U[>on the green, gay barefoot girls 
To romp and dance are met, 

Whose malleoli gleam like ]>eni-l.s 
In whitest silver set: 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 225 

And there is one, who to ray mind 

Is of all grace possessed; 
I would I were the fragrant wind 

By which her form is pressed; 
I then would her embracer be. 
A disembodied eestacy. 

Hard by a silver river flows 

Where nodding flowers grow; 
Each modest maiden bolder grows. 

For who will ever know? 
She bares her ankles for the kiss 

Oi limpid waters bright, 
That softly lave them, and go by 

In ripples of delight. 
O, if I those fair feet might lave, 
I were content to be a wave. 

The birds pour forth, in lofty trees. 

Their dnlcet tale of love; 
The little beetles and brown bees 

As they are prompted, move. 



15 



226 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

O, everything in nature speaks. 

And something lists to hear; 
Only my heart in silence breaks 

AVhilejoy, perhaps, is near. — 
But see, she struggles in the waves — 
Will she not love the one who saves? 

The lovely form that I adore 

Is sinking rapidly: 
Her friends are huddled on the shore, 

Her arms are stretched to me. 
The river lifts his hands to hide 

Her still triumphant head; 
He battles for his struggling bride, 

To bear her to his bed; 
The foamy, bubbling ripples bear 
On wide-spread palms her floating hair. 

His heavy, lusty strokes I dare. 
Past his strong shield I break; 

His buffets all I gladly bear. 
For they are for her sake. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 227 

Now, like a wind-bloAvn tree she lays 

Her head upon my breast, 
And in her eyes beam loving rays 

That tell me I am blest; 
One arm about my neck is thrown, 
One soft hand trembles in my own. 

My arm supports her o'er the lea, 

Her warm breath fans my cheek, 
And, as she nestles close to me. 

How boldly I can speak! 
Her clinging robes reveal a form 

So fair 'tis half divine. 
But tender eyes express a warm 

Young heart, and it is mine! 
Ah, the cool waves have washed to-day 
From both our eyes the blind away. 



22S MTBCELLANEOrS POEMS. 

EVANGELINE. 
The moon was full and it was June, 

With s]>icy breath and dreamy weather, 
The pathway ended all too soon, 

Whieh we two walked from ehnrch together. 
I half in shade, she in full light 

Stood by the rose-bush at the gate; 
The time had come to say good-night, 

But still our fluttering hearts said wait: 
We nearer drew, no whisper broke 
The silence, but her pure eyes spoke. 

Her dress in many a wntching turn 

Fell soft about her breast, round arms 
And legs, and I could just discern 

Through tliin, white folds a hundred charms 
Of grace and beauty, luring made 

By modest draperi-es, and shy 
As some coy damsel half afraid. 

Like birds that seem about to fly. 
Yet tarry, lay her hands in mine, 
My dallying, dear Evangeline, 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 231 

It was an hour when soul meets soul 

And scales fall off from blinded eyes; 
Hearts meet and mingle, and the whole 

Bright world seems new as Paradise. 
Soon like a lily on my breast 

Her head drooped, smiling lips upraised, 
Retreating not from mine when pressed 

While youth's warm, timid thoughts were 
mazed 
In rapture, exquisite, divine, — 
O thy pure thoughts, Evangeline! 

Evangeline is nature's child; 

Pure woman all, all tender heart. 
True love and virtue, meek and mild. 

Disdain the useless aid of art. 
She smiles when her soul smiles, her kiss 

Is but a heart-throb on the lips. 
She schemes not; in her acts she is; 

And to pink toes and finger-tips 
She's loyal, is this love of mine. 
Is lovely, leal Evangeline. 



232 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

THE SUN'S LAST BEAMS. 

The sun's last beams hang o'er the hills 

Like a triumphal arch; 
Soon will the youngest stars begin 

Their bright, mysterious march; 

And when the round heart of the moon 
Throbs in warm seas of" light, 

My heart shall beat against her breast, 
My Gertrude's breast, to-night. 

The gardens of soft June have sweets, 
But none that can compare 

With the faint fragrance of her breath 
And waN*^^ wealth of hair. 

Fair June has many a glorious flower, 
But none with half the grace 

And beauty of her slender form 
And smiling, childlike face. 

Within the bosom of the rose 
New-blown, no spot we see. 

But her young heart is purer far 
Than any llovver can be. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 233 

The needle to the pole is true, 

But truer still is she, 
So I will hasten to the eot 

Where Gertie waits for me. 

A myriad fire-flies throng the air 

Like shooting stars, and o'er 
My path the playful rabbit leaps 

Or scurries on before. 

Beyond the orchard is her home, 

Among the clustering trees. 
Old-fashioned flowers, domestic fowls 

And house-like hives of bees. 

O for a simple home like this, 

My Gertie, lit by thee. 
Where no world-weariness could come 

With its dull ache, to me! 

Our round of little duties done, 

We'd rest in shady bowers, 
And breathe our careless lives away 

In balm of loving hours. 



234 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



I NEVER SEE A CABIN HOME. 

I never see a cabin home 

Nestling among the hills, 
But freshening through my breast like song 

A wild emotion thrills. 

I never see a spreading tree 

Beside a shady lane, 
But pleasant days of youth come back 

With yearning almost pain. 

Beside my image in the brook 

Dear days of old are cast; 
An odor on some idle wind 

Oft bears me to the past. 

A berry ripening in the sun, 

A trembling of the leaves, 
A laughing, barefoot boy or girl, 

A shock of golden sheaves, — 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 235 

These each are wed to memories; 

As they successive rise 
]t is as if some pensive tune 

My heart heard through my eyes. 

My heart is like a carrier dove, 

That, wheresoe'er it be. 
Will seek its home, however far, 

When set at liberty. 

When happy children romp about, 

Careless, and free from pain, 
I see the spot dear to my youth. 

And my young friends, again. 

A grape-vine matted o'er a bush 
And dropped its branches round, 

(Leaving a door-way arched with leaves,) 
Until they reached the ground. 

The hill-side, too, was scented rich 
With strange plants, many flowered, 

And in the lane a mulberry 
Tall and majestic, towered.* 



2S-6 MISCE-LLAIs^EOUS POEMS'- 

Such was our play-ground; and the day& 

Went by like butterflies; 
Gay birds sang, and coy summer spread 

Her wealth to please (Xir eyes. 

^on all' were scattered from that spot 

Like young birds fr(»m a nest; 
l:ach may find wealth, or fame, or power, 

B-Jt ne'er such peace nor rest. 

Will heaven give us back the joys 

Our happy child-hood knew? 
Restore the childish heart, and let 

Us keep our wisdom, too? 

.mx^^vvy trees are not usually very large. out the one referred tc 
wasalmo'it as large as any mvk. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 239 



WHEN THE STARS. 

When the stars begin to blossom in the black 

arch of the night, 
I wander forth alone, in the pale, mysterious 

light, 
To spend an hour, O darling, in tender thoughts 

of thee. 
And ])ray for thee aaid Imby, wherever ye may be. 

How many friends arc near me iu the hurry of 

the day. 
And smiles and songs unite in love to soothe my 

cares away; 
But in this lonely vigil there is more to solace 

me. 
As I pray for thee and bal)y, wherever ye may 

be. 



240 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

A FLIGHT OF BIRDS. 

O darling, see the dark-winged birds 

1 hat blot the purple of the eve, 
How harsh their cries, like scolding words 

They love us not, and haste to leave. 
They sing not now, nor, pausing, stay 

To think of happier hours gone by; 
The summer wore itself away, 

Their love expires in autumn's sigh. 

The swallows sought us in the spring, 

And skimmed the streams with motion nice, 
But now the skies are darkening, 

They flee the cutting winds and ice; 
The thrush and linnet sought the grove, 

There nested, and sang friendly lays. 
How fickle and how changed they prove; 

How lonely are these saddened days. 

How few of all the birds will stay, — 
And are they not like friends of ours? 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 241 

How few would uot be driven away 
i3y bleak disaster's autumn hours! 

Misfortune sometimes proves the best 
Of tortuno; for though many flee 

Of those who flattered us, the rest, 
Thus tried, will ever foithful be. 



AIDYL. 



Hi!r smiling, bright eye tlirills mc 

Till my heart awakes to sing, 
A touch of her soft lip fills me 

With the fragrance and beauty of Spring;- 
Indefinite, exquisite power, 
The spirit-kiiis of a flower. 

First love, the revelation 

Of strong manhood to a man, 
Of womanhood to a woman! 

Life came when it began. 
My heart caught the first spark 
From her wide eyes, deep, dark. 



IG 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 243 

She's witching, and artfully wiles nie 

In the ringlets of her hair; 
Her motion n)akt8 music within me, 

And her face is faultlessly fair; 
Her step is like down on the earth, 
For her spirit sjarkles witii niirth. 



A little too careless, I think her, 
Of the earnest, stern duties of life, 

(I think this when she is not near me) 
Too light, not too glad, for a wife, — 

But she is so kind and so neat, 

And the spice of her breath is so sweet! 



And oh! we are matched,— as the sprino- is 
The source of the song of the bird, — 

The rose of the scent,' — as the breeze is 
The voice of the leaves that are stirredl 

In the love that she gives I am blest, 

Fov love will bestow all the rest. 



2U MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



GOD'S POEMS. 

Sometimes I weary of my dearest books, 
And conversations witli the Jcariaed dead, 

And long for whispering trees, cool shady nooks, 
And wide, free field and for/jst views, instead 

Tne hurrying feet upon the busy street, 

The thundering factories and mills, the look 

Of weariness on fiicesthat I meet 

Are all to me a sad, heart-wearing book. 

I like to read the poems of my God 

On hill and valley written, and to hear 

His voice in streams and winds; each path is trod 
By angels ;feet. His words are everywhere. 

The girls a-berrying and laughing gay 
Among the briers; the sturdy hiirvesters; 

The happy birds; the mowers and the hay; 

Each cloud that floats and every leaf that stirs, 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 245 

Are all His verses, and express far more, 
To any heart that listens, than do words; 

The sweetest songs that from rapt bosoms pour 
But echo these in their siiMimcst chords. 

Our noblest aspirations, ends and aims, 

Our loves, hojies, joys, emotions of the mind,, 

Ijeap up before thorn as do naissant flames 
When breathed upon by some iresh-blowing 
wind. 

Of these I never tire, — all others pall; 

These fullness give, but not satiety; 
God's poems, writ in rapture over all. 

Are comfort, wisdom and reproof to me. 



IT IS NOT SPRING. 

Now winter's reign is past, the pensive dove 
With his meek mate renews each scene of love; 
The flowers wake, the birds have come, but she, — 
OhL she wakes not, nor can she come to me — 
It is not Spring. 



246 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Hearts, warming with the days, grow rapturous 

now, 
And every dell is sacred to a v^ow; 
Young love sings with the birds^ more blest than 

they, 
But still that voice is silent night and day 
That made the Spring. 

How oft beneath the mellow moon we'd stray 
And breathe enchantment from the nights of 

May, 
She the fair center of the perfect whole, 
Whose kiss was balm and music in my soul! — 
Then it was Spring. 

Beneath green, whispering trees we used to pass, 
O'er trembling coins of gold that pranked the 

grass, 
And all that sang or blossomed seemed our own; 
But now life's gold, life's glory, all is gone!— 
It is not Spring. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 247 

The swallows come, and daisies to the fields, 
The sky its smiles, the wood its fragrance yields, 
Earth grants her buried charms at nature's plea, 
But what is all? The grave yields not to me — 
It is not Spring. 

It is not Spring! It never can be now 
In all the years beneath which I must bow; 
I wait and change not till the Sun of suns 
Shall splendid rise and wake the sleeping ones, 
For S})ring, my Sju'ing. 



ALONE. 

A score of friends are near me, 
And all are fain to cheer me. 

But I am lonely still; 
My sad, repining breast 
Is like an empty nest. 
My heart is far away; 
E'en music fails, to-day, 

My languid pulse to thrill. 



24« MISOBLLANEOUS POEMS. 

Oh, for the tender touch 

Of small hands, loved so much, 

Of lips so soft and sweet; 
If I might follow now 
Where fast ray fond thoughts go, 
My cares would vanish quite 
In her bright eyes clear light, 

When she and I should meet. 



O, TELL ME, DARLING. 

O, tell me, darling, of your love; 

I know, but it is sweet to hear; 
Speak, dear, and every cloud above 

And flower on earth thy smile will wear: 
Speak, that the music in my heart 
Grow never faint, and ne'er depart. 

The wild bee knows the flower is sweet, 
But o'er and o'er he tastes to see; 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 249 

I doubt not, yet my joy complete 
And tell thy love again to me: 
My heart is open, let thy words 
Sweep through and walce ^Eolian chords. 



ODE. 

hush, 

Dear little thrush, 

1 would not hear you sing to-night; 
The onJy light 

Is in the eyes of one 
I cannot see, 
And even in the sun 
Deep darkness covers me. 

O earth, 

Forget thy mirth, 

The darling of my heart is sick, 

And every tick 

Of time's great artery 

May sound her knell; 



250 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Earth holds no peace for me 
Till she is well. 



She is 

My light, my bliss; 
Oh, modest, artless Ada Lee 
Is all to mel 
I see but with her eyes. 
Feel with her heart, 
And our glad future lies- 
Part knit to part. 

Sweet Spirit, 
If any merit 

Thy eye beholds in love-born prayer, 
O heal, O spare! 
Or measure out to me 
Her bitter cup, 
And see how eagerly 
I'll drink it up. 
1884 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 251 



TO — 

Fly back to ray breast 

Poor desolate dove; 
Here still is a rest, 
Here still is a nest 

For thee, O, my love. 

What matters to me 
The lies of the many? 

Let loveless eyes see 

What errors there be, 
I cannot see any. 

The world may traduce thee 
With envious breath, 

Howe'er it abuse thee, 

My heart still will choose thee 
In life or in death. 



.1883 



Pastorate Poems. 



3nSCELLA:NE0"US POKMS, 255 

GUI BONO. 

O brothers, though weeping, to-night let no tear 
Be shed for the dead who can meet us no more; 

Weep, weep for the lost ones, who blindly, we fear, 
Are running for heav'n — with their backs k» 
the door, 

Come, let us all pray for the hoH^y saints, 
Who would work, who would give — had they 
money to spare — 
Who are willing to voice all the churcfli's •com- 
plaints. 
And pray for it, too — sometimes — when they 
s'wcaT. 

Ijet us pray for the pastor, that his heart may he 

.-stiifred, 

That in him may be found all that any may seelq 

May the Lord fill, on Sunday, his mouth with 

the Word, 

And fill it, with brexid,>all the restof tlie wee<k. 



256 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

If we want the church paper, O help him to 
smile 
On that stereotyped phrase, "I can't settle 
to-day" — 
'Tis a little amount, he can wait for awhile, 
And I'll vote for a change if he asks me to 
pay. 

Let us pray for his wife (what a child for the 
place! 
Of her fitness some doubts are already ex- 
pressed); 
But we'll pray the good Master to clothe her 
with grace, 
And our preacher, on credit, can manage the 
rest. 

She's young and can stand it; she ought to attend, 
And preside, at each Scandal Exchange * we 
may hold; 
What use is it longer our money to spend 

For an organist? — she can play well, I am 
told. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 257 

Let us pray for the cliurch, that it may succeed — 

Without human assistance — at home and 

abroad; 

Our time and our cash in our own homes we 

need; 

But we'll pray for the church, and just leave it 

with God. 

"Usually called sewing circles, etc. 



LINES. 



17 



Faint not, be not cast down, 
Though darkly fortune frown, 

And doubt be everywhere. 

Let hope make weakness strong, 
And thou shalt see ere long 

The sun shine through despair. 

For all the clouds, some day, 
Will smile and flee away, 

Leaving thy heaven fair. 



:2o8 MTSCELLA:!^E0US POEMS. 

CONFESSION. 

My feet from the wyy have wandered. 

My lips are fiilJ of guile; 
I sit in the twilight, weeping 

The absence of thy smile. 
There has fallen a deadly horror 

Of darkness upon my soul, 
And my heart exclaims with the Psalmist, 

"The deej) billows over me roll." 

Untouched by Thee, life is barrea 

Of^uv fruit but tearsi, 
And reason only discovers 

A waste of doubts and tears. 
I am weak, dear Lord, and sinful. 

And blindly seek Thy face; 
Heveal to me the rapture 

And glory of Thy grace. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. £.59 

PROHIBITION CRANKS. ' 

The story of the past is evermore retold, 
The right is martyred still where wrong is overbo'd; 
No matter though a nation's lips in scorn are ourK d, 
The prohibition crank at last will turn the world. 

In sad ensanguined days, a giant serpent's coil 
Was severed to release the dusky sons of toil; 
Shall we be slaves, whose cheeks with Saxon blood 

are pearled? 
No! Prohibition cranks at last will turn the workl. 

The man-child Right is born to work the overthrow 
Of blood-compacted leagues that forge the present 

woe; 
Destroyed will be their labyrinth, dark, crooked, 

whorled. 
By prohibition cranks which soon will turn the 

world. 

The nation is not dead, nor will she sleep alway. 
The soul of liberty is in the land to-dav; 



260 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Soon will her cunning foemen from her side be 
hurled, 

For prohibition cranks at last will turn the world. 

Then forward, noble comradesl On to victory! 

When God is the Commander, triumph soon must 
be. 

Tis rum against our church! Our battle flag's un- 
furled, 

And prohibition cranks at last must turn the world. 



RICH AND POOR. 

God gives the rich man pencf^, 
But gives the poor man sense; 
He gives the rich man gold 
And titles manifold, 
But the poor man still may pro\^ 
The wealth of unbought love. 

God makes his favorites poor, 
So they through every door 
And on each path and steep 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 261 

May learn his workings deep: 
Thus having suffered, they 
Wipe other's tears away. 



AX EVENING SONG. 

O darling, see the dark-winged birds 

That bl©t the purple of the eve; 
How harsh their cries, like angry words, 

They love us not and haste to leave. 
The harvests have been gathered in, 

And leaves fall, rustling, everywhere; 
Dark branches wave where flowers have been^ 

And frosty is the smoky air; 
But welcome every season's change! 

Each still has charms no other wore; 
"While in these Autumn fields we range 

AVe raptures feel, unknoM-n before. 

Oh, when each shrunken nerve is numb, 

And faded is the brilliant eye; 
"When trouble and decay shall come 



262 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

To blot the purple of our sky; 
When harvests are to gather in, 

And leaves are falling everywhere; 
When stark death sits where flowers have been; 

And frost has settled on our hair; — 
Oh, will that solemn season's change 

Bring charms no other season wore? 
When in those quiet fields we range, 

Shall we feel joys unknown before? 



A SABBATH MORXIXG. 

The day new-born smiles, wrapped in purple robes 
And innocently glad; the little globes 
All pendent on the leaves and grass, are bright 
As eyes that open from the sleep of night; 
The silvery mists in giant folds have curled 
Fantastically backward from the world; 
Awakened nature sings, and all is rife 
With the rapt vigor of refreshened life. 



MISCELLANEOUS POE^^TS. 263 

Awake, my heart, to sing thy Maker's praise, 
Who gives, Avh© gladdens all thy happy days^ 
Who soothes thy hours of sadness "with a voice- 
So kind that all who hear it must rejoice. 
Sing, O my soul, with Jiature's jocund choirl 
Mount to thy God on wings of rapt desire; 
Refresh thyself at lioly founts to-day,. 
And let the curling vapors roll awav. 



LINES. 



[Written Oil heariitg a laborer ordered to his work 
when his child lay dead at home.] 

The world has no place for pining, 

Xo time for weary regret; 
And yet, on the brow of the bravest" 

Its seal of sorrow is set. 
The toiler must haste to his labor 

With eye-lids dripping wet, 
Nor mourn one day for the darling 

His heart can never forget. 



264 miscp:llaneous poems. 

Alas for the tears that the poor 

Let fall on the graves of their dead; 
The hour that is given to weeping 

I bought bv a loaf of bread. 
What right have those to be mourners 

Who through the lonesome years 
Can publish their sorrow only 

By the dewy weeds of tears! 

A common heart, O brothers, 

Beats in the whole world's breast; 
Oh, would there were for the humblest 

A time for tears and rest! — 
And yet all letters of sorrow 

Will be soonest worn away 
From hearts that are wearing and wasting 

^Xeath swift wheels every day. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 265 

OH, I WOULD BE LOST IX JESUS. 

Oh, I would bo lost iu Jesus 

Till evorv deed and word 
Of mine be touehod by his blessing, 

And fully with his accord: — 
Then let nie be a river, 

And Thou shalt be the sea, 
For all my being fioweth 

With constant stream to Thee. 

1 am weak, but he is mighty; 

I am sin, but he is pure; 
My work is frail and fleeting, 

But His will ever endure: — 
So, [ will be a servant, 

Thou, Jesus, shalt be the king, 
And I will look to thv bountv 

For every goodly thing. 

My life is dark and cheerless; 
I cry, like a child, for liirhtr 



286 MISCELLAXEOUy POEMS. 

The winter of life has filled me 
AVith blackness and bitter blight: 

So, I will be a gai'den, 
If Thou. the Sim wilt be, 

Whose rays shall awake forever 
A. life ot beautv in me. 



All weary and sad, I wander 

The clitis of the mountains, alone;, 
I hear the thunders rolling 

And the forest's eerie moan: — 
And oh! be Thou the shepherd, 

For I am a poor lost sheep, 
W«hich Thou mayst rescue in mercy^ 

And safe in Thy strong fold keep. 

Tn me is little judgment, 

I know not what is best; 
My heart is filled with folly 

And many a thought unblest: — 
So I will be a learner, 

If Thou wilt teach to me 
Rich lessons of Thy kingdom, 

Throiigh all eternity. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 267 

THE REVIVAL AT TOPHET-CORNER. 

You say I don't look healthy? — I guess I'm 

eyclone-stfuck; 
I feel just like a Malay before he ruu8 amuck! 
Yes; I'm oue fool that left the church; I slammed 

the door behind me, 
But, don't you know some quiet hole where no oue 

else could find me? 

We had a big revival; the people all were stirred 
Except, of course, their pockets, at the preaching of 

the AVord; 
The church had joined a hundred before the, 

second week, 
But then the ship of Ziou struck a rock and sprang 

a leak. 

The preacher, he was single, or at least supposed 

to be, 
And the girls looked quite angelic in their brand 

new piety. 



268 MISCELLA^TEOUS POEMS. 

We filled the aisle with altars and still there wasn*^fr 

room, 
And some got new religion^ and some a newer 

bloom^ 

The shepherd suited all the flock; m hirathe church 
was blest; 

His pretty picture sermons lulled our bosoms inte- 
rest. 

In business lies and tricks of trade we passed the 
busy day^ 

Then thronged to church at night that he might 
pluck the sting away* 

He sweetly did it; we at last had found our hearfs 

desire, 
A minister who burned the thorns oi life with holy 

fire. 
There was no battle in the elouds, no sign in earth 

or air^ 
No gentle whisper,, even, came ta warn us to beware^ 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 269 

Mv daughter sung him ballads; w&s even pleased 

to mend 
His clothes and do his Ava&hiug, -and we trusted to 

the end; 
"With such a gospel-pilvt 'tvouM have been rank 

sin to doubt, 
And yet we struclv the cru^l roK^ks, and tbus it 

came ahont: — 

The young folks gave a party, Avbich surely wasn't 

■wrong. 
For all of them were members, and young folks 

will be young, — 
There were some plays, some kisses so holy they 

were slow, 
Some leggy saints n-dancin^ tbat their lily robes 

migbt show. — 

Twas nothing, and the meeting would have gone 

on straight and w'ell, 
But parson showed his fogy side by warning ns 

that Hell 



270 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

AVas made for just such christians! Yet his loviDg 

church was kind, 
And to his crying errors decided to be blind. ^ 

But we could not forgive him, when, without a 

word of warning, 
His wife appeared in meeting one quiet Sunday 

morning! 
She was a smiling, dainty thing, her beauty quite 

uncommon. 
But oh! a blue-eyed pestilence was she to all our 

women. 

The maidens all were weeping, and their tears upon 

the fire 
Of our religions ardor, rained sputtering and dire. — 
A committee waited on him to inform him that we 

paid 
Our money for a servant, and that he must not 

upbraid. 

The promptness of the paying part our shearer 
seemed to doubt, 



MIS('ELLAXEOT\S POEMS. 271 

5Biit Brother Frost' wnvinctK.! limi with an angry 

nasal shout, — 
"*'"\Vhat use of |aying, aDvhow, on Free Salvation 

pike? 
Lord, make our ])reacher cross-eyed so we can see 

alike!" 

^Ve^ormed an Inquisition and we rigged ti Gospel 

rack, 
Determined to con^^ent him an«d. bring his patieiKv* 

back: 
"^N'e taught him proper meekness by the vials of 

our blame, 
And edified him by onr praise of times before he 

came, 

"^.'Sir, you may coax, but cannot drive our sons and 

daughters here; 
Entresit, and keep entreating,rand perhaps, if duty's 

clear, 
They'll do it, if you're humble, whih' you eon- 

iinue so," 



272 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Said Ragby, adding, "For the church has need of 
them^ you know." 

'*Yon mnst be winning, and the trntb, when naked 

will not win, 
So dress in a la mode for the ballet dance of sin; 
We want to fill our class-book with the richest 

Dames in town, 
So steer clear of their vices," whispered cautious 

Deacon Brown. 

"We hide thera, and, with your assistance, might 

forget tliem all; 
But yon expose our darling sins and make ou 

pleasures pall i 
HoAV can a man feel sanctified unless he can 

believe 
That he is sinless while he sins?" said brother 

Snifflesleeve. 

"I know that I sin every day, but that was all 
forgiven 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 273 

When I was blest ten years ago; why don't you 

talk of heaven?" 
Remarked the organ-angel as she advertised her 

grace, 
For the benefit of Johnny, through the powder on 

her face. 

"I go to church for comfort, but deep waves of 

trouble roll, 
Beneath such Bible preaching, right across my 

naked soul; 
What use to quote at us those hissing lines red-hot 

from Hell?— 
They miss us by a century," said young Professor 

Bell. 

"Perhaps 'twould be as well, my friends, e'en in 

this latter day, 

When churches make advances for the Devil to 

come half way; 

Half rations of the Spirit is weak enough for me," 

Said one; we wept that any should so benighted be. 
18 



274 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

We all dined with the preacher, and while we 

cleared his table 
We fed him our opinions as fast as we were able; — 
"1 thank you," said he, "for revealing frankly what 

is needed," 
And so we left him, thinking that the meeting had 

succeeded. 

It had, but not exactly as the wise committee 
wished. 

And it beat the oldest records the way that mis- 
creant dished 

Hot brimstone without mixture to sinning saint 
and sinner! 

And then, his pictures of our souls destroyed our 
zest for dinner. 



He told us of a rich man who prayed from Hell in 

vain; 
We heard in outraged silence that we must be born 

again: 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 275 

He told us what we needed was a liberal change of 

heart, 
And said he would not play at horse and let us 

drive the cart. 

I tell you it was warm, and every mother's son and 
daughter, 

As the flames came seething nearer, began taking 
to the water; 

For sinners find it easy to believe in Alex Camp- 
bell, 

Whose doctrine drowns old natures that they no 
more may trammel. 

Well, sir, for one that left the church to put the 
preacher down. 

Two calmly joined it; and it is the leading church 
in town! 

His success makes us madder than anything be- 
side, — 

A fact whose silent purpose is to tell us how we 
lied. 



276 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



HARD TIMES. 

O darling, when I think of all the days 

That have been, and of those I know mu^ 
come, 
Remembering that, in sweetest blossomed ways, 

The sob will rise above the wild bee's hum, 
My heart might fear your love would be worn 
through 

By the rude friction of our daily tasks, 
Had I notj wooing, found so mixed in you 

The qualities of love that only asks 
Appreciation when it stoops to bear 
With patience, half the weight of any care. 

But what you bear with double weight is laid 
Upon ray heart, for I would see you free; 

Love born of storms is strong; it must be staid 
On rocks eternal or it could not be! 

They who lay burdens on us, — would the band 
That they 'Call mfirria^e^ hoM one little hour-'* 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 27T 

Bonds that so often only tie the hands, 

How they would snap in tlve first tempest's 
power! 
Yet we are beasts of burden, they are lords; 
We to the labor, they to the rewards! 

They grudge us one cool moment in the shade 

Of leafy trees that skirt the fallow ground; 
Spring comes with song and flowers, but we are 
made 

Too coarse for beauty or for dulcet sound! 
Nature around us whispers; if ^e drop 

Our tasks to listen, we have lost a meal! 
The tread-mill round of life must never stop. 

The tear of joy or sorrow must congeal: 
Who bears brute's burdens a poor beast must be; 
Feeling must have no place in poverty! 

The Pharaoh's live! "Accomplish still the tale 
Of bricks, but ask not straw," the master cries; 

"To rest is idle; though your strength may fail. 
Back, back to ta'.l! see, there your burden lics^' 



278 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

To meet a whim- our lordlings raise the rent 
And wring glove-money from the harden'd 
palm! 

Egyptian slaves had pottage, ours is sj^ent; 
Our masters bid us starve or else be calm: 

What wonder if sometimes toil's giant hand 

In wrathful desperation shakes the land? 



MISiDELLANEOUS POEMS. 279 



BUILDING. 

The bird whose wing is weary 

Builds on at its little home; 
It ceases not from its labor, 

Nor falters at evil to come. 
Yet the gleeful and careless school-boy 

May ruin tiie labor of days 
To make a moment's amusement 

For one with whom he plays. 

bird, you shall be my teacher; 
Though wreck and ruin may fall 

Upon some castles I've builded, 
They cannot destroy them all, 

1 can build beyond misfortune. 
Secure from the fiercest blast, 

A mansion of beauty eternal, 
A home when life is past. 



280 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



HELP ME NOT TO JUDGE. 

Help me not to judge my brother, 

Teach me pity for the race; 
May I do by every other 

As Christ would, if in my place. 

Let me- feel that love's completeness 
AVhich forgives, forgets a wrong; 

Fill my spirit with its sweetness 
Till it blossoms on my tongue. 

Thou, who art the whole world's Father, 
Hold'st my foes thy children, too; 

Tis thy right, not mine, to punish 
Or reward the deeds they do. 

Teach me patience for each trial. 

In thy promise let me rest; 
When I wrestle at Peniel 

Let me feel that I am blest. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 281 

IN THE LIGHT OF THE CROSS. 

Each uight I bear to Jesus 

The work of the day complete; 
Just as it is I lay it 

At his most gracious feet- 
He blesses me just for trying; 

He fully understands 
The springs of success or failure, 

And results are iu his hands. 

O everything comes right. 

Whatever the grief or loss, 

When viewed in the beautiful light 
Of the wonderful, wonderful cross. 



38^2 MISCELLAXEOFS POEMS. 



FORWARD. 

[Time.— "Hold the Fort."] 

Forward, forward, Christian soldier, 

Forward to the fight! 
Think, it is for these we battle, 

God, our homes, the right. 

CHORUS. 

We have friends in deadly danger,. 

Sin has laid them low; 
Forward! forward to the rescue! 

Let us save them now. 

O the world cannot withstand us, 

God is on our side; 
Christ the King is the Commander,. 

And will be the guide. — Chorus, 

We can do all things through Jesus 
Who will be our strength; 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 283 

And, no matter what opposes, 

Vic'try's ours at length. — Chorus. 

Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, 

Little children, too, 
Forward to the noble conflict! 

God is calling you. — Chorus. 



2M MISCELLANEOITS POEJ^fSi- 

THE CHARIOTS OF GOD. 

We miss the toiich of friendly hands^ 
We yearn for friends that sleep; 

And often baffled love commands 
Our weary eyes^ to weep: — 

chorus: 

But the chariots of God, 
White chariots will come^ 
White chariots will come^ 
White chariots will come,. 
To bear the faithful homel.' 

O all have class-mates over there, 

Brothers and sisters dear, 
Who rest ^heath Eden's cedars fair, 

Their work accomplished here. — Chorusi. 

Fathers and mothers,, too, now rest 

Where care can never come;, 
They wait to clasp us in that blest, 

That bright,, eternal home. — Choru&w 



MISCTETLXA-NBOUS POEMS. 2fe5 

Some dear ones, too, have children gone, 

Whose spirits are at home, 
<jod will not leave them long alone,— 

White chariots will come. — Chorus. 

I think, sometimes, I see them wait. 
Those who have left our band; 

'Twill not be long till at the gate 

We clasp each vanished hand.— Chorus. 



286 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



DEATH AND LIFE. 

How blest was man 'mid Eden's flowers, 
His heart in perfect harmony 

"With all the beauty of its bowers, 

That heart could feel or eye could see! 

His state, his heart in full accord 
With all the blessedness he knew; 

His soul's envirnment, the Lord, 
Who was his loving Father, too. 

Alas! 'mid all he fell from grace. 

The Father's love was turned to wrath; 

He lost the state, and so, the place, 
And oh! the penalty was death. 

Death! for the source of life is gone, 

And sin is now his heritage; 
Man, wilfully from God withdrawn, 

Lives, yet is dead, from age to age, 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Is tiiere no one with sin will cope 
Life's lost conditions to restore? 

Will mercy now not grant ev'n hope 
To those who had all heaven before? — 

Behold! Christ dies on Calvary; 

The veil of mystery is rent, 
He is the soul's heredity, 

Ji'orever its environment. 



288 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS, 

HOME FROM THE GRAVE. 

The hands I have pressed, the lips I have kissed 

Lie under the sod to-day, 
And it seems that the world is filled by a mist 

That will never roll away. 

I seem to hold my heart in my hand 

A wounded, disconsolate thing; 
My nerves are benumbed^ I do not understand. 

For the anguish is deadening. 

The songs seem distant, the light is dim. 

And I seem to have no part 
With the world that is; for the seraphim 

Have taken the pride of my heart. 

Upon the piue-elad hill she lies 

In the close, dark chamber of death, 

And its darkness trembles before my eyes. 

Its closeness stifles my breath. 

*Mrs, Browning says, in one of her best poems: — 
"And I pitied my own heart 
A& it I held it in my Iiand," 

-S. S. F, 



MIS€ELLA^'EOUS POEMS. 



LINES. 



289 



This life of ours is an exchange; 

Each year takes something from the heart 
And gives it something new and strange, 

Which, also, sometime, will depart. 

In joy, no feeling long can last 
Unvaried by a thousand things; 

The keenest sorrow soon were past 
If thought did not renew its stings. 



2if) MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



A DYING CHUISTIAN.* 

The angels now are all around me, 
And in the darkness is a light; 

The smile of Him who is my Father 
Will make the dark death-river bright. 

O messengers from far off Heaven, 
I stretch my w(»aried hands to you.; 

Bear, bear me to the Blessed Islands 
Where every worthy wish comes true. 

The hands ot many long forgotten 
By all on earth, perhaps, but me, 

Will clasp my own in hearty welcome 
Upon the shore of the Silver Sea. 

It was my life's delight to worship 
The One who gave his life for me. 

And soon, beyond the golden portals, 
I face to face this Friend shall see. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 291 

Then, O ye messengers from Heaven, 
Make haste to bear my spirit home, 

And let the stern, but kindly warden 
Apprise my kindred that I come. 

1877. 

•Tills poem Is printed at the request of some friends to whom It has 
a peculiar Interest. It was wrUten In ISIT, when 1 was but twelve 
years old.— s. s. F- 



292 :^^scELLA^^p:ous poems. 

HYMX. L. M. 

How favored, how divinely blest 
That soul which in Thy love can rest! 
There is no other refuge given, 
And earth affords no other heaven. 

If mercy still remain for me, 
Back to Thy bosom let me flee; 
For Jesus' sake forgive my sin, 
Open Thy heart and let me in. 

1882. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 293 



THE LABOR WILL BE ENDED. 

The labor will be ended 

By and by, 
And the world by Christ detended 

Shall be lifted 
Througli the rift(d 
A/.ure (hinie of sky 
To that land where those who love Him 
ne'er grow old nor die. 

The nations all shall waken 

Under ground, 
When the solid earth is shaken 

Bv the swelling 

Of tlie knellinfj:; 

Trumpet sound; 
And o'iant ocean's arii s shall be unwound. 

From about the strangled people 
In her bed, 



294 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

While the great bells in the steeple, 

Set to pealing 

By earth's reeling, 

Call the dead 
From land and sea to Judgment just and 
dread. 

In that last hour, how awful 

Will it be! 
They whose life-work was unlawful 

Shall be driven 

Far from heaven! 

Aye, and they 
Shall be forever cast into the fiery sea. 

But the then holy Father 

Will command. 
And His children all will gather, 

Fathers, mothers. 

Sisters, brothers. 

Hand in hand. 
To dwell with Him alway, a happy band. 



MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 295 

We know not when, but surely 

It will come; 
Listen, ye who live impurely, 

And take warning. 

For that morning 

Brings you doom, 
But to every righteous soul a happy home. 



296 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 



HYMN. C. M. 

My heart yearns for Thee, O my God, 

As women yearn for love ; 
To see Thy face will be the best 
Of all the joys above. 

But since thou, God, art only seen 
And known by Spirit-sense, 

O let my knowledge of thyself 
Begin ere I go hence. 

Reveal each day some new delight, 
Some glimpse unguessed before, 

That I may falter not, but love 
Thee ever more and more. 

At every turn upon my way 
May some* new view be given, 

So shall I ever grow in grace 
And fitted be for heaven. 



MI8CELLANE0UB POEMS. 



297 



MY AMBITION. 

My warm arabition;has not sought 

To leave a deathless name; 
To be forever unforgot 

Is not the noblest fame. 

Cut it has been a deep desire 

To leave some thought behind, 
Whose music, when I sing no more. 

Shall soothe and bless mankind. 

Who wears the gem cares not to know 

Whose toil unearthed it first; 
We care not whence the stream may flow, 
So it but qnonoh our tliirst.'. 

Our hearts Arc wcancil from many wrongs. 

And many a blessing wrought 
By tender strains in humble songs 
Whose singers are forgot. 



298 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. 

Vd rather write upon the heart 
Of man one glorous thonght 

Than with the millionaires have part, 
And share their splendid lot! 

O better that some gentle word 
Of mine should dry a tear, 

Than all a nation's praises heard 
O'er many an honored bier. 



^nSCELLANEOUS POEMS. 299 



ERRATA. 

Page 4S, fourth line, read hearth, not " heath." 

Page 88, third line, read Beltis instead of "Beltes." 

Page 176, ninth line, should he comma after "stars" 
instead of apostrophe. 

Page 182, eleventh line, for masters read 'master's." 

Page 187, eleventh line, read for instead of "fo." 

Page 191, second line from bottom, read ours for 
"our." 

Page 212, last line, for thewine read "the wine." 

Page 244, twelfth line, for angels read "angel's." 

Page 248, seventh line, for eyes read "eyes'. " 

Some mistakes in leading and indenting occur, and 
a few errors may have been overlooked. 



300 MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.] 

o<FlSHER'S POETICAL WORKS> 



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